What it Takes
by Shining Hearts
Summary: [WIP] [ContestShipping] This time it's May who walks out. Years later when they meet up to go to Johto for an 'extreme contest' competition, can May get over her tramatic past? Can Drew? or do they need to embrace it instead? [MayxDrew] CS, PS, & LS.
1. We love those who we doubt loves us back

**A/N: Alright, so I've read just about every long contestshipping fanfic about May and Drew, and I decided it was time for me to write a fanfiction of my own.**

**This first chapter is like… the setting I guess you could say for the beginning of the story. **

**And you'll get to see from both of their POVs.**

-.-.-.-

May looked across the field over to her final opponent. Her rival since she began coordinating, her friend since their second Grand Festival and the first man she had ever fallen in love with. But she had to put all of this behind her for this match.

They were the final two in the Coweat Region Grand Festival, it was May's third, and this time she knew she had to win.

They came forward and shook hands before the match, and instead of shaking her hand Drew placed a perfect red rose in her hand before flipping his hair and taking his place on the stage.

"Alright, let's go Roselia and Flygon!" Drew says as he casually flips his hair and tosses his pokeballs.

May is nervous, but she swallows her instability, knowing that her pokemon would feel her fear and it would radiate towards them. She said, as calmly as if things this big happened all the time, "Eevee, Squirtle, TAKE THE STAGE!"

All four pokemon came out of their pokeballs with different radiance. Roselia had little petals floating idly around her; Flygon flapped its giant wings, causing it to emit a gentle light around it. Eevee's fur sparkled and glistened with the obvious indication that it was never neglected, and lastly Squirtle had a glint in its eyes and sparkles incasing its body that any other water pokemon would be envious of.

"And you have five minutes on the clock to astound us with your amazing pokemon skills, at the end of this time we will have a new Top Coordinator!" Shouted the MC at the crowd, who went wild with their enthusiasm.

"Alright let's get this started with Shadow Ball, Eevee!" May said.

"Counter with Dragonbreath Flygon, then go into a Petal Dance Roselia." Said Drew. May inwardly smiled, she had expected this.

At the last possible second May told Squirtle to counter, she had practiced this – it builds the suspense. "Squirtle, use ice beam to stop that petal dance in its tracks, follow up with icy wind to blow it back and Eevee use swift!"

Drew's eyes widened. May's points might have gone down for him countering her shadow ball, but his points would definitely fall if he didn't think of something fast.

Unfortunately Drew did not think of something fast enough, his pokemon managed to take minimal damage, but his points were severely cut.

4 minutes left on the clock.

_(alright guys, we're skipping onto the one-on-one part. It's Eevee vs. Roselia – Squirtle and Flygon KOed each other at the same time with an explosion when their attacks collided. Roselia used protect and Eevee used dig)_

There was a minute left on the clock and May was down to just Eevee left. Drew had only his Roselia, but they looked only minimally tired, yet May knew Eevee was exausted. Eevee had taken damage (although no where near full impact) from that explosion, and May's points were tied with Drew's. Drew's next command cut the tension, and it was the attack that ultimately decided the match.

"Roselia, Petal Dance and follow with magical Leaf!" Drew called, and May watched the multi-colored and powerful attack surge forward towards her weak companion.

"Eevee, use agility to get away from impact!" Yelled May, almost helplessly. Eevee responded at once and was half way down the field and Drew's points dropped slightly. But May had a new problem, with no one to stop the attack, it was headed straight for her.

She looked up, wide-eyed and locked gazes with Drew. Roselia noticed too and had a worried expression on her small face. Eevee turned just to see May close her eyes, waiting for the impact that never came.

Drew began to run forward, to do whatever he could to help May, but was stopped dead in his tracks as he watched Eevee begin to glow. _Impossible… _he thought, but he knew with May, nothing was impossible… and there were now three eeveelutions not requiring a stone **(which is true, Umbreon, Espeon, and that new ice one)**. Eevee's shape began to change and its tail thinned while elongating, its body became larger and more agile, it's face also thinning and elongating. When it was done evolving Drew gazed upon the most beautiful Espeon he had ever seen. Its coat gleamed, its proportions perfect, its body language intense, but all of that was not the reason why it was so beautiful – yet that added to it. It's eyes were not the midnight blue of all the other Espeon out there, its eyes were the same color as May's – deep sapphire blue and the jewel on it's head was a deep lavender (darker than its gleaming coat) instead of red.

Drew merely gaped at it as it gave out a muffled cry before Roselia's magical leaf and petal dance came to a complete stop and fell – useless - onto the ground at May's feet. **(A/N: it used psychic)** She slowly looked up and saw her new pokemon, who purred affectionately before turning its gaze back towards their opponents.

thirty seconds left.

Drew's points dropped, but this time he didn't care – May was alright, and he'd get the points even again, he was confident of that.

"Espeon, Psybeam!" May called loudly, and her new lilac feline-like pokemon shot a large multi-colored beam of light out of the jewel of its forehead. Drew thought quickly before calling:

"Roselia, start spinning then use razor leaf and petal dance, GO!"

Roselia did and it formed a giant tornado, preventing any harm done to his pokemon. May's points dropped – they were dead even now.

Ten seconds left.

"This is our last chance Roselia, use Grasswhistle!" Drew called.

Roselia stopped spinning and began to make a lovely sound, May felt her eyelids drooping before she shouted, "Stay strong Espeon, use your psychic attack to knock it off of its concentration."

Espeon did, knocking it into the wall behind Drew, causing a small indent. The points both lowered and May thought frantically. "Go, use swift Espeon!" May shouted as she saw Roselia stumble back to the field.

Drew looked at May – trying to keep the apprehension out of his eyes, he could not make Roselia dodge, she was too weak, in that moment he knew May had won. And the worst part was, that he knew that she deserved it, and he was filled with pride for her accomplishment instead of the shame of losing the match.

Three seconds left.

The swift was closing in on Roselia and feeling its trainer's sudden relaxation she too realized it was over and closed her eyes, waiting expectantly.

Two seconds left.

The swift hit dead on, and even though she knew Drew had given in, Roselia could not bring herself to give in completely. She struggled to get up.

One second left.

Roselia's struggles were in vein. She collapsed – waiting for her well-deserved rest in the pokemon center later on. The judges had their loud buzzers go off as simultaneously three big red 'X's appeared across their judging panels.

"And that is the end! The victory goes to May and her astounding Eev- Oops, I mean Espeon! Give a hand to our new Number-One coordinator!"

May stood – dumbstruck – on the stage as she watched as if she was not really in her own body her friends racing towards her. Only Max had truly traveled with her the whole time, but Ash, Brock and Misty had said that they would not miss one of May's grand festivals for the world – and she had actually won!

She snapped back into realization as she felt Espeon's soft fur rub up against her leg and she heard her beloved pokemon's soft purring, she smiled at it and opened her arms invitingly and with much grace her pokemon lithely jumped into her waiting arms only to curl up and go to sleep there.

May smiled at her pokemon and pet her head absently. She smiled hugely at the MC as she was awarded her ribbon cup, oblivious to the green-haired, green-eyed boy looking at her from afar, not wanting to interrupt her happy moment. This should be one of the happiest moments of her life. There was no need for him to ruin it, though he knew with talent like hers she would end up winning much more than just one ribbon cup, her first one had to be special, it is a rule.

May looked around, she was so happy! There was only one person who would make it better. But where was Drew? She failed to notice the boy standing in the shadows with a single tear running down his pale cheek – it was not for the item he had lost, it was for the person he believed he would never have.

-.-.-.-

_(Later, at the after-party)_

May walked around the after party looking around the crowds of people for Drew, clutching the tiny bag she held close to her heart.

This was something she had to do – she needed to do this if she was ever going to get what she wanted.

She sighed before giving up and walking down the beach, her new Espeon at her side. Deep down May had always wanted Eevee to become and Espeon, but she never said anything to anyone about it, for she felt Eevee had a choice, and she would be happy with that choice, whatever it was.

Suddenly May saw footprints going down the beach – one pair was a person's footprints, the other belonging to a pokemon. For some strange reason May knew these footprints belonged to Drew and one of his pokemon, and she merely signaled for Espeon to follow her before she took off after the footprints.

The sun was setting and May could faintly make out the outline of a person on the beach with a pokemon that looked like an Absol. May saw Espeon's ears perk up slightly and a small red line appear over its mouth before she shook her head to clear the thought and continued after a slightly bemused May.

-.-.-.-

I looked up when I heard the noise behind me on the beach. I saw the glint of a beautiful Espeon on the reflection in the water and I did not have to turn around to see that it was May standing behind me. "May." I said as coolly as possible, but on the inside I was tearing apart, and it was all because of her… always because of her, but she did not know that.

"Hey Drew." She said as she sat down on the beach next to me, her Espeon sitting down next to my Absol, who had a small red line above his mouth – _how quaint; my pokemon likes May's_ I thought to myself.

"You did great today," I began as I lay back on the sand, she did the same and she merely looked at me, confused, for a while before I continued, "I was so scared when Roselia's attack was going straight for you, I'm glad that Espeon evolved when she did."

Espeon rubbed her head to my hand lovingly when I said this and I looked at it surprised – it was hard to earn the trust of an Espeon (especially such a well-trained one as May's) and the only way to do that is if they can sense a special bond between their trainer and the person in question. I know for a fact it only goes to May, her family, Brock, and Ash, sometimes that Misty girl too I guess, even as an Eevee. I felt proud that her pokemon could trust me so much.

"I was scared too," May admitted softly, as I watched her I saw her expression changed and she rolled over to look at me in the eyes. "But why are you being so nice to me, Drew?" she asked, her voice even softer than before.

I looked into her beautiful blue eyes before responding, whole-heartedly, "Because today is a special day for you."

She looked at him, a small tinge of pink adorning her beautiful cheeks before she turned away and said softly – as if it wasn't intended for me and she was talking to herself – "Yes, today is a big day indeed..."

I suddenly got to my feet offering her my hand as I used the other one to touch the velvety presents I had gotten for May, which were hidden behind my back.

She got up too, and looked at me questioningly. I took a deep breath and began to give May her present when I saw a small bag being shoved up under my nose. May was looking down, her face red even in the moonlight and she was holding the bag up for me.

"I hope you like it; it took me a while to find the right one. It had to be perfect." She said the last part as she began blushing even harder, but she gave up on trying to hide her blush and she looked me straight in the eyes as I carefully opened the small bag.

At the bottom was a small red pokeball and I picked it up, slightly confused.

"Let her out so she can meet her new trainer." May urged me. I threw the pokeball up in the air and the white light released a pokemon I had been looking for since my journey began as a pokemon coordinator. Now resting in my arms was a baby Feebas, looking up at me with wide, curious eyes. My breath caught in my throat as I looked up into May's expectant eyes.

"It's… perfect. But oh! Look at the coloring…" I said, almost unable to look into the eyes of the magnificent girl in front of me. How could I ever think I ever had a chance with her? I don't deserve her, especially because of all the arrogant comments that I drop on her all the time.

"Professor Oak told me she was a shiny pokemon, I thought that would help even more with your contest appeals…" May began. I just looked into her eyes, willing myself to just do it, just kiss her.

-.-.-.-

I looked into his eyes searching for the answer I wanted. I almost willed him with my eyes to just do it – just bend down and kiss me.

We stood there for a few minutes and I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes. I began to turn around, prepared to never look back at the boy who had stolen my heart.

I started walking back to the party, willing myself to hold my tears until I was safely in my room.

"May!" I heard Drew call from behind me; I stopped, at least ten yards away from him, and turned back to him, his new Feebas safely in his arms, its scales shimmering in the setting sun.

He ran up to me and from somewhere I could not see he handed me the last gift, and the most treasured one, I would get from Drew Nektao in a very long time.

-.-.-.-

_(This is Espeon and Absol talking in pokemon-speech while May and Drew are caught up in talking to each other, which is why the two of them did not catch on to their pokemon's conversation, written in English instead of interpreted)_

"They are so blind." Espeon said sadly.

"They are, Drew has loved her for years, yet all he ever does is be rude and cold, then throw a rose at her as if it will heal all the hurt he caused in the first place." Absol replied, equally as sad.

"She has loved him equally as long, thought she did not admit it to herself for a long time, but I do not blame him for the snide words, they were the only way he could think of to cloak his true feelings," Espeon said, laying her head into Absol's smooth coat.

"We need a plan, I don't know when we'll see each other next, but when we do we have to do all we can to get them back together. They need their chance to come out with their true feelings."

"Alright. Is it horrible that I do not want to move from this spot and simply rest here forever – as long as I'm not missing any contests with May?" Espeon sighed.

Absol chuckled slightly before saying, "No my dear it's n--"

"May!" The two of them heard Drew yell, and they both reluctantly got up and went to their trainers, watching the next part unfold.

-.-.-.-

May was expecting one of Drew's roses this time, but what she saw made her eyes well up with unshed tears.

There were three roses held together with a gold chain (that she did not notice at first). The roses were all thornless and there was one red rose, one lavender, and one sapphire blue. **(A/N: meanings will be at the bottom of this chapter, kay?)**

-.-.-.-

She looked up into Drew's eyes but the expression he saw crushed his already battered heart into millions of pieces. Her eyes were totally deprived of any emotion.

She just shook her head at him before she walked slowly back up the beach towards the party with Espeon at her side.

As son as she was out of sight Drew whispered into the wind, "Why do I have to love you so much?" and his gentle words were carried away by the wind before he turned to Absol and they began the trek of their next, May-less, journey in hopes of getting their next ribbon cup.

Soon they were only a speck in the distance.

A small Luvdisc popped its head out from behind a small sand dune and looked sadly in the direction May had first gone in, and then the one Drew had followed before it let out a long heart-broken wail and made its way back to the ocean.

-.-.-.-

May made her way back to the party, a single tear trailing down her cheek. Espeon looked at her worriedly and many of her friends, and many people she did not know noticed her distress.

She covered her face with her hands – careful to not damage the roses Drew had given her – and ran all the way back to her room.

Misty and Soledad looked at one another before nodding and running up after May, telling Ash, Brock and Max to stay where they were.

May's two friends came up to the door to her hotel room and knocked gently while hearing the sobs of their friend. After a few minutes they tried opening the door and found that it was unlocked.

When they went inside they both sat on either side of May and Misty pulled her into her own lap, while Soledad had May's head resting on her shoulder and was gently patting May's head and whispering useless nothings into her ear.

Once May was finished crying she explained everything to her two best girl friends and told them everything that had happened after she left the party.

Misty and Soledad's eyes widened in shock and they both knew of the love that May and Drew shared, yet they were both oblivious.

Soledad looked sadly down at the three flowers Drew had given to May, and she was the first to notice the golden chain that wrapped around the flowers, keeping them together.

She nodded towards the roses to Misty, unnoticed by May and Misty nodded before getting up to get the red and gold leather-bound book that May had not told anyone else about besides her two best girl friends.

Soledad got up as well, slowly as not to scare May, and grabbed the roses from Drew.

Misty and Soledad sat down on the couch at the same time, motioning for May to do the same.

As May sat and sniveled lightly they opened the book in Misty's lap first and all three of them stared down at the roses Drew had given May over the years. At first May had kept them for their beauty, but slowly they became something more to her. They were the items that helped her hope shine through… The hope that he might love her in return.

"Wow…" Misty breathed out. "99 roses… 99 red roses. May…"

But Soledad cut her off before she could hurt their friend any more than she was already hurting. "May! What is THAT?!" she asked, pointing innocently at the gold chain around May's roses.

May looked up through her tear-filled eyes at the roses and her breath caught in her throat. She carefully took the roses from her friend and removed the beautiful golden chain. At the end of it was a single small red pokeball.

May looked at it for a while before Misty nudged her shoulder and said quietly "Well, aren't you going to see what it is?"

May nodded and silently threw the pokeball. Once the white light was gone May saw a pokemon of such radiance that her breath caught in her throat and her two friends both looked on in jealousy.

In front of them was a baby Dratini, its eyes shining and its skin, instead of the normal light blue color, was a purplish pink. Instead of a circle on its head the jewel residing there was in the shape of a heart.

May fell in love with it at first sight. It was the best present anyone had ever given her.

But it reminded her of Drew and that hurt. The last thing she thought of before she put the chain gently around her neck, placed the flowers delicately into her book, grabbed her pack and picked up her new Dratini to begin training was '_when I see Drew again, I swear I will tell him how I feel, but in the meantime I will train my hardest so I can make him proud_'.

And with her tear-stained face she walked down the stairs again, through the throngs of people at the party, not noticing the envious glares people shot her because of her new pokemon, not only was it rare, it was cute, it was a shiny pokemon, and it had a unique shaped gem on its forehead. She didn't care however, she held her head up high, motioned for Max to follow her and they walked out over the hill, the opposite way of the beach towards their next destination.

**A/N: Did you guys like it, or was it a little over-dramatic with the Drew and May at the beach until the end part? I wasn't sure.**

**Alright, here's the meanings of the roses:**

**Red: "I Love You" (duh.)**

**Lavander: "Love at First Sight" (Which in my story it was for Drew)**

**Blue: "Unobtainable" (What Drew thought about him ever having May's love, notice the whole 'single tear in the shadows' thing)**

**Thornless: "Love at First Sight" (once again)**

**And, No I didn't plan for them to be the same colors as Espeon's Eyes and Gem, but they are.**

**I'll post the next chapter by next… Wednesday, I promise. Maybe if I get enough reviews I'll post it tomorrow.**


	2. We remember those who mean the most

A/N: There were a few minor errors I found in my previous chapter and, yes I know I'm bad at tenses. I cannot keep typing in the same one to save my life, I hope it doesn't bother you guys too much, I'm going to try to work on that, though. So have confidence in me please.

Thanks to these people for reviewing:

_obancrescent13__: Thanks! _

_beautifly-rulez12__: it has to be sad, if it's not sad in the beginning it can't get any better that it was. ; Keep that in mind._

_ShadowandKnucklesgirlforever: She's just going to be really emotional in my fiction, thanks for all the constructive criticism, I'm trying to get the basics down right now, you know, past events before the actual story starts, which will be the next chapter._

_jolteonforever__: May does love Drew; points to first paragraph on the first chapter_

**Alright, when May won her ribbon cup when she was 15 – Drew 16 – Ash 19 (Misty also) – Max 13 and Brock 23.**

**(In my fiction there are always two regions with contests, one Vivian hosts, the other Lillian does)**

**I also forgot the disclaimer in the last chapter. Oops :(**

_**Disclaimer:**_**I don't own Pokemon yet, I'm still saving up money to fly on a plane to get across the world to steal the rights cough I mean…**

**Oh crap. Forget I said that. Besides, if I did own it, there'd be a spin-off about Drew and May and Brock would be with Lucy. And Ash would travel with Misty and continue to be absolutely dense (I love it when they argue). Oh and we would know the definite gender of Harley x-x.**

**P.S. (I promise this is the last thing)- The battles I wrote from Drew and May's POVs, but May is actually watching them on tape… I just am really bad at writing in third person. :/ especially things like that, so I'm sorry if it confused anyone.**

-.-.-.-

"Mom! We're home!" May called into her old house. She entered into the comfortable front room with Max behind her, tending to his Gardevior. On the table was a note reading:

_Norman, I'm going out to the store, be back later. Love, Caroline._

"Max, mom's not home, so I think I'll watch the tapes with Espeon." May said, dully. Max knew there was something wrong with his sister – there had been for the past two years, but he wasn't going to say anything to her, it was her problem after all.

"Again May?! You watch those tapes so often I'm surprised they don't break." Max said, standing in the same place he was before, half his attention on May's odd behaviors over the years, the other half on the long burn on Gardevior's arm.

"Yes again Max, it's purely strategical." The hot-tempered brunette lied, but they could both hear the tone in her voice that meant she was trying to convince herself as much as him.

She merely stomped into her room, plopping down on her red- and white- bedspread and grabbed a brush for Espeon's coat before letting her out of her pokeball and placing the first tape into the player.

The tape began, the picture professional and smooth – the color maybe slightly off because of the age of the tape, but that did not faze May in the slightest.

-.-.-

May walked up onto the stage, the sun shining down on her. Coordinating is not what it used to be for her – it no longer held the appeal it used to. She no longer pushed herself to best Drew, because she knew he would not be there, but she did know that he would watch, as she would watch his performances. It just felt like something was missing but that would not stop her.

"And now our final match-up for the Dangoh Region Ribbon Cup we have a match between two coordinators already holding a ribbon cup each, please give it up for May of Petalburg City, and Robert of Sootopolis!" Yelled Lillian excitedly.

"I choose you, Milotic and Alakazam!" Said Robert.

"Beautifly, Espeon Take the stage!" Said May, only half-enthusiastically.

"Let's go Beautifly Silver Wind on that Alakazam, Espeon hold it in place with your Psychic attack!" Said the brunette with a simple turn of her head, the light catching on the gold chain around her neck, the red pokeball on it shining. No coordinator had seen what was in that ball. Only Misty, Max, Soledad, Ash, Brock, her parents and, of course, Drew knew what was held inside.

"Milotic get in front of Alakazam and use Safeguard." Said Robert, fire in his eyes and his long hair blowing slightly. "Then follow up with water pulse and Future Sight!"

May gulped, she did not want her pokemon to take the Future Sight hit, she would have to stop it before it began. her points dropped and she began to randomly throw out attacks, hoping they would suffice.

"Beautifly use Gust, Espeon, Swift." She called. She did not manage to stop the future sight attack, but the swift cut through the water pulse, leaving Milotic open to Beautifly's gust attack. She sighed in relief as Robert's points dropped slightly.

"Alakazam use Psybeam!"

"Espeon, counter with Psychic, send it right back at him!"

Robert merely smirked slightly before he said, "Milotic, get in front of Alakazam and use safeguard, send it back at that Beautifly!"

"Dodge it!" May called, but to no avail, it hit Beautifly head-on, cutting May's points.

"And, in a close race Robert has overcome May to win this year's Dangoh Ribbon Cup!"

In the end what caused her to lose her Ribbon Cup was the Future sight attack which had successfully knocked out her already-weakened Beautifly. She gave it a job well done before she pet her Espeon and the two of them walked out together, soon to be joined by Max.

-.-.-

The tape ended and Espeon purred lovingly before May got up to put in the next tape – the age the same, but the picture still as good and slightly faded as the one before it.

She looked at the tape to see Drew's face – void of almost all emotion. That broke her heart into tiny pieces, but merely seeing his face filled her with a warm contented feeling.

-.-.-

Ever since his separation from May, Drew has secluded himself. Instead of the cocky, arrogant coordinator he became selective and shy. He only talked to Soledad out of the other coordinators who tried to talk to him and he no longer handed out any of his roses. Even Masquerain and Absol were found to be moping at times. Drew was simply not himself, but he continued to coordinate, knowing that somehow May was watching him, and he had to make her proud.

"And now, may I present to you the final two in our Orre Region Finals! Please welcome our coordinators – Drew of La Rousse and Soledad of Pewter City! And now let the match BEGIN!" Said Vivian before Drew and Soledad released their pokemon.

"Let's do this, Slowking and Ampharos!"

"Flygon, Roselia take the stage!"

"Slowking, use Water Pulse and Ampharos use Thunder on that water!" commanded Soledad.

"Roselia jump on Flygon's back, Flygon take to the sky!" Said the green-eyed coordinator, blowing his messy hair out of his eyes. He refused to flick his hair at all anymore.

"Roselia, aerial Petal Dance, Flygon use your flamethrower!" Drew called.

The Petal Dance hit poor Slowking head-on, dropping Soledad's points even further before she commanded Ampharos to dodge the flamethrower which was successfully executed. Drew's points dropped minimally and then she was back into attack mode.

"Alright, Slowking, use psybeam! Ampharos, follow up with Zap Cannon."

Drew could not think fast enough, and there was probably nothing he could do. Poor Roselia was her target for both attacks, and she was still in mid-air. Then he got his idea, but he wasn't sure that Roselia would make it through it in this battle.

"Roselia, use Stun Spore, Flygon blow it over at Slowking and Ampharos with your wings!"

It worked; Roselia's attack hit right after the Psybeam and Zap Cannon hit her simultaneously. Both coordinator's points dropped, leaving Soledad slightly behind.

The poor rose pokemon fainted and Drew recalled her to her pokeball. "Good job Roselia," he whispered to his pokeball before he raised his hand and shouted, "Flygon, use earthquake!"

In that moment Soledad felt the same thing her opponent had felt last year when he lost to May – she knew she could do nothing to stop the inevitable, and she accepted it whole-heartedly.

The light caught on the small, sparkling pokeball attached to Drew's vest, the pokeball that he, like May, had not used yet in any contest.

He was presented his very first Ribbon Cup, but there only one thing he could think about and that was, '_I wish May was here to share this with me._'

-.-.-

May began to think of the first time she had seen this event, it was a little over a year ago and it was the one and only time she had dared to contact _him_ since that fateful night over two years ago.

Flashback 

May watched on the T.V. in her parents' home in Petalburg City as Drew won his ribbon Cup, and even though she left so her feelings for him would diminish, they never did. They only grew more and more. They only waited for that moment when she would see him again.

She cheered and clapped for Drew with all of her pokemon surrounding her. Skitty, Espeon, Blaziken, Munchlax, Squirtle, Ivysaur, Beautifly, Seadra, Bellossom, and Dratini all sat around her as she and Max watched Drew accept his ribbon cup.

It broke May's heart to see Drew the way he was – he just wasn't Drew anymore… and she wondered why, it's not like he loved her back or anything.

She sighed before turning to her pokemon, ready to set off for their next journey.

"So, who wants to come with me for contests?" she said, cheerfully.

Blaziken flexed its muscles and lit the flames at its wrists, indicating its interest in going with her. Beautifly cried out before fluttering to her head and settling there. Espeon purred and rubbed against her leg. Dratini cooed cutely at her. Seadra – her newest pokemon – cried out and looked pumped up and Bellossom began to dance around May in circles.

Squirtle gave her a small smile, but upon seeing May's mom he jumped into her arms. May understood. Munchlax simply fell asleep. Ivysaur looked longingly towards the transfer machine – no doubt she was missing Ash's bulbasaur. Skitty made a cute sound before jumping into Max's arms. He blinked at her twice before looking up at May. May giggled before nodding.

With Skitty Max now had a well-balanced pokemon team, and he would try the gym challenge in their next region. He grabbed his five pokeballs (and skitty's pokeball) counting off his pokemon.

"Gardevior, Skitty, Arcanine, Jolteon, Starmie, and Tropius!" Max said excitedly. May asked her Beautifly to take a note to her old friend before she exited the house with Max, headed to the Balcantic Region. The next Ribbon Cup would be hers.

End Flashback 

-.-.- **(A/N: alright, this next one is Drew, not May, but I wanted you guys to see his reaction to this)**

_**Begin Flashback**_

Drew sat in the Pokemon Center of La Rousse Town. He was here visiting his sister, Alice, before he headed to the Karogen Region for the next contests and Grand Festival.

The rain was pouring down on the town, and he watched, bored, as people ran from store to store and stayed on the moving boardwalk even though half of it was closed because of the rain.

Then he saw it. He saw the flash of Black with reds and yellows and blues. It was a pokemon. And Drew just knew it was May's Beautifly, he just had this feeling.

Without a word he and his Masquerain got out of the pokemon center and ran, they didn't care that they were getting wet. They ran and ran until they get to Drew's mansion where an exhausted Beautifly was clinging to the antique wooden front doors, waiting for someone to find her there.

As soon as they saw the butterfly pokemon both Masquerain and Drew perked up. Drew carefully took the note from the pokemon before the two bugs flew off together, flying in patterns and circles around each other, both with bright red lines above their top lips.

Drew merely smiled at them before he opened the note from May, his hands shaking. It read:

_Drew,_

_Congratulations, I knew you could do it! I'm glad you won your Ribbon Cup. I'm headed off with Max to my next set of contests, but there was something bothering me. And that was the way I left you out on the beach. That was unfair of me and I am sorry. I was upset, but I can't tell you why. I miss you Drew. I miss everything about you, even your arrogance and sarcastic comments. Do I sound completely pathetic?_

_-May_

Drew looked at the note, and his hands began to tremble slightly. He straightened it, making sure there were no wrinkles before calling Beautifly and Masquerain over to him. Without a word he pulled out a small piece of paper and a single red rose. The note simply said: _'__They were always for you__'_

End Flashback 

-.-.-

May walked over to her bookshelf and gently moved the other books away until she found the red- and gold- leather-bound book hiding behind all the others. She turned to the second-to-last page which had roses pressed inside that were three different colors – red, blue, and lavender.

She turned the next page and her breath caught as she saw the rose on the next page. It was larger than all her other flowers, and even now if she ran her fingers along its surface she could smell the fragrance and feel the velvet texture of the petals. Below it was a piece of paper – slightly yellowed with age. It read: _'They were always for you'_

May looked frantically around the room to see Espeon looking questioningly at her and she quickly closed the book and stuffed it back onto the shelf before picking up the tape and sat back down on the bed as it started, Espeon now curled up on her lap.

The tape began to roll, showing a curly orange-haired woman in a blue outfit and a white visor on the screen, the colors less faded than the last two tapes.

-.-.-

"Alright, let's give it up for this year's final two coordinators in the Balcantic Region! Lets hear it for May of Petalburg City and Soledad of Pewter City!" said Vivian loudly into her microphone.

Suddenly a girl with Brunette hair, sapphire eyes, and a red bandana appeared on one side of the field, followed by a much taller woman with pinkish-orange hair, steel-blue eyes and an orange shirt entering from the opposite side.

The two women faced off and taller one called, "Long time no see, May. Good luck to you!"

"Good luck to you also Soledad!" called May, flashing her friend a smile that was so rare for May Maple now-a-days.

Soledad merely nodded before calling: "Lets go! Butterfree! Lapras!"

"Blaziken! Bellossom! Take the stage!"

May went right into the battle without hesitation, "Sky Uppercut and Petal Dance, lets go!"

"Butterfree, fly away from that attack, Lapras counter with icy wind!"

The sky uppercut caught Butterfree but Lapras's counter made it so that the two trainers both lost an even number of points.

"And time is UP!" Yelled Vivian gleefully. "But wait… what is this?! The coordinators are both tied for points? Well, that simply cannot be right!"

"Well folks, this is a first! We have a tie for the Ribbon Cup itself! The tie breaker will be a one-on-one battle, continued with no time limit until one pokemon is unable to battle." The MC stated.

Both women nodded and the taller was the first to make a move.

"Pidgeot, let's go!" she shouted.

May Maple simply stood there, playing with the small pokeball on the chain around her neck. Her pokemon was ready for this – she was sure of that, but could she handle it, emotionally? She searched with her eyes until she locked gazes with her brother, Max, and he nodded his head slightly, indicating he knew what she was thinking and he agreed with it.

With that May snatched the small ball off of its beautiful chain and threw it into the air, yelling, "TAKE THE STAGE!"

Many people gasped even before her pokemon had appeared 'May Maple actually using the pokemon who's pokeball was around her neck?! Never.' Was heard throughout the stadium. But those gasps were nothing compared to the gasps of the people when they saw what the pokemon was.

There sat May's Dragonair, it's skin pinkish purple, the horn on its head started as a heart and ended in a point, the light around it glowing and shimmering with grace that many coordinators wished they could help their pokemon achieve.

Soledad nodded towards May knowingly before taking a more alert stance and readying herself for battle.

"Pidgeot use Aerial Ace!"

"Detect, Dragonair then follow up with Swift."

The swift hit Pidgeot head-on, but the damage seemed minimal, May was surprised. Her Dragonair was extremely well-trained (not to gloat or anything) and not many pokemon would be able to withstand more than a few bashings from it. But May knew never to underestimate Soledad.

"Quick Attack!"

"Stop it with Psychic." Said the blue-eyed girl.

"Now hit it with Ice Beam." She continued.

"Quick Pidgeot, Double Team!" shouted her opponent.

"Use Water Pulse to find the real one, then follow up with Thunder."

The attack was successful and the taller woman's pokemon fell limply to the ground with electric sparks randomly shooting from its body.

As soon as May was sure the match was over she rushed over to her friend and put a hand on her red pokeball, signaling her to stop from returning her pokemon. She looked questioningly to the brunette girl, but she simply said,

"Dragonair, use your Heal Bell and if need-be Recover on Soledad's Pidgeot."

With that Pidgeot began to move its wings and after a minute it was happily soaring over their heads, but both girls could sense that it felt it had let its trainer down by losing.

"Good match May, wow I knew that when you let him out that it would be a big shocker to everyone – but I thought I would be exempt from that, but that was simply amazing! I mean the attacks that it has learned… simply spectacular." Said the orange-haired girl somewhat sadly before turning around.

Before getting engulfed into the crowd of people asking her questions about her beloved pokemon she called off to her friend, "You did good too! I'll see you soon! I promise!"

And with that the tape faded to blackness.

-.-.-

Espeon was happily asleep in May's lap and she absent-mindedly petted it as she waited for the next match to play (it was on the same tape as her match). If May had been more attentive or had Espeon been awake they would have noticed the faint pinkish-glow coming from the jewel on Espeon's head. The light flicked once, twice, three times, and then it died out. If either had noticed the two of them might have looked out the window and seen the sullen green-haired green-eyed boy and his large Absol standing on the walkway in front of their house. They might have noticed the boy gently slip a red rose into the mail box before he touched his pokemon's head sadly and they began to slowly trek away…

But they did not and the tape began to roll again…

-.-.-

May, annoyed, fast forwarded through Lillian's little speech at the beginning and stopped at the part where the two trainers released their pokemon.

Drew's opponent was none other than Harley.

"Banette! Wigglytuff! Come out my darlings!" Called Harley in his high-pitched, squeaky voice.

"Let's go! Absol!" Drew faltered slightly before tugging on the specially-made pocket located over his heart and tore off the pokeball. People began to murmur. 'First May and now Drew are showing their secret weapon pokemon?! This is so cool!' "And you too! Milotic!"

The crowd gaped as they saw Drew's magnificent Milotic, it had to be better-looking than Robert's AND Wallace's! Its mere presence lit up the stadium, it was obviously extremely strong, and it was the wrong colors, it must be a rare SHINY pokemon!

Harley staggered backwards slightly before he regained his composure and said confidently, "Bad mistake Drew-bie! Go Banette darling, use your Lock On then follow up with thunder on that Milotic of his!"

The green-haired boy merely had the ghost of a smirk on his face before calmly saying, "Milotic, prepare yourself, Absol use Razor wind on that Wigglytuff."

The Thunder attack came from the opposite side of the field at the same time as the Razor Wind whipped from Drew's.

For the third time the crowd gasped at the marvels of Milotic's astounding abilities. It had built up a resistance to any and all electric attacks. Harley went pale as he saw his attack become useless and his Wigglytuff take some major damage.

-.-.-

May began to feel her eyelids drooping as she continued to stroke Espeon's back. She let out a yawn and willed herself to stay awake to watch the rest of Drew's match (not like she hadn't seen it numerous times anyways) but in the end her eyelids won and she was taken to a place of roses, and beautiful pokemon, cakes and noodles galore, and a certain green-haired, green-eyed coordinator.

-.-.-

"May…" someone called.

"May, honey, wake up it's time for dinner."

"Dinner?!" May said, shooting up from the position she was in – to the great dismay of her Espeon.

Her mother laughed slightly and May looked over to the tape, which must have rewound itself and played again quite a few times since she had fallen asleep seeing as Lillian was just yelling, "And our winner is Drew of La Rousse City! Congratulations on your second Ribbon Cup Drew!"

May turned the T.V. off before sighing and walking down the stairs to eat dinner with her family.

She followed her mother slowly, Espeon by her side, down the stairs towards the kitchen. She headed towards the back door where she let all her pokemon out and fed them dinner.

When she came inside she looked up to see Max entering from the front room, and she followed him, '_I guess we're eating at the family table tonight._' May thought to herself.

What she saw on the small table in the corner with the mail made her breath hitch slightly. She walked slowly over to the stack of mail and picked up the single red rose, pulling it in closely to her face to smell the fragrance.

Dragonair came slowly into the room up behind May and gently nudged his head into her hand, causing a single petal to fall from the rose and land directly at the tip of Dragonair's heart-shaped horn and balance there perfectly.

May and her family looked transfixed at Dragonair before it turned its head slightly in a questioning manner and said softly "Nair?"

The petal fell softly to the floor and the moment was lost, but May continued to look at the lone petal on the wood floor at her feet.

-.-.-

**A/N: I only have three things to say to you guys:**

**No, May is not stalker-like. She is merely upset, and she feels that the only way she will ever see Drew is through his performances, and the only ones she can see are him in the Grand Festivals because they are the only ones 'important' enough for camera crews to film them for TV. She feels as if it's the one part of Drew that she'll never lose if that makes any sense.**

**This chapter is pure fluff, but it was fun to write, I hope you guys liked how I did the whole 'past two years summary' thing. The next chapter should be out by… at least Thursday. I'm starting my summer courses tomorrow (no I'm not stupid, I'm getting P.E. & Health out of the way)**

**REVIEW PLEASE:**


	3. We protect those that we know we love

**A/N: Alright, since this has been questioned so much I'll explain May's situation slightly.**

**Thanks to these people for reviewing.**

**May loves Drew. May tries really hard to get Drew the perfect present. She finds it and gives it to him. He doesn't even say 'thank you' (we know he was just caught up in emotions, but she thinks he is ungrateful). She thinks she fell for an ungrateful jerk and cannot take it anymore. She decides to walk away and he calls after her, getting her hopes up. She didn't notice the pokeball and necklace and thought he was merely giving her more flowers for Beautifly (or Espeon or whatever pokemon it was this time) and was extremely sad. To cover up the fact that she was about to cry she acts emotionless before leaving. Drew thinks she rejected him. She thinks Drew rejected her.**

**It's a mess. A mess I promise to begin to sort out in this chapter schmiles**

**Me: Oh Drew, come in her and do the disclaimer.**

**Drew: Why the heck would I do the disclaimer for you?**

**Me: because I could make your life a living nightmare if you don't.**

**Drew: Shining Hearts (Bella) does not own pokemon. If she did I'd me a more main character and Harley would get that gender change surgery that he's been wanting.**

-.-.-

May stretched, yawning, before looking over to her Beautifly clock. She got a jolt when she saw that it was 10:45 AM. She never did like waking up early, but she was not a late sleeper either.

She looked around the room at her pokemon and noticed that Espeon was missing. The brunette trainer looked around for her purple feline-like pokemon, but merely shrugged thinking that it had probably only gone to be with Max or followed her dad to the Gym. May turned around and went to her bathroom to take a shower…

Little did she know. Little indeed.

-.-.-

**(Earlier, before May woke up; about 4:30 in the morning)**

"Beau Beautifly" _(Are you sure?)_

"Dru Sea Seadra!" _(Alright May needs this)_

"Bella! Bellossom Bell!" _(Yay! We have a plan!)_

"Blaze Bla" _(Say hi for me)_

"Nair? Dragonir Na Dra?" _(Drew who? The one who caught me?)_

"Espi. Espeon. Esp. Espeonnn Espio!" _(Positive. I will. Yes. I'd better go!)_

Espeon called back to all of May's other pokemon before she set off on her quest. She was positive after smelling that rose and the trail outside that they were not far away. They couldn't be.

-.-.-

Drew rolled over uncomfortably in his sleep as he and Absol camped out right out of Rustboro City.

"No… May…" Drew said softly before once again turning in his sleep. Absol looked at him worriedly before setting his head back down on his paws and keeping watch for any thieves trying to steal their things.

Absol heard a branch snap on the other side of Drew and he leapt up over his trainer, growling lightly, his tail glowing with an 'iron tail' attack at the ready.

"_Now is that really the correct way to treat a lady?"_

Another pokemon called from behind the bushes. _"E-Espeon?"_ he said hesitantly.

She laughed lightly before walking out of the bushes and capturing him in her beautiful crystal blue gaze. _"It has been a long time."_ She sighed.

"_That it has."_

"_Did Drew get his letter yet?"_

"_What letter?"_

"_I'll take that as a 'no'. May hasn't either, but you know me, always curious. I looked to see in the future and saw her opening it. Oh, Blaziken says 'hi'."_

Absol chuckled lightly. Yes, same old Espeon. Drew mumbled in his sleep again before tossing back to the other side. Espeon eyed him worriedly before getting to the point of what she was going to say.

"_We have to get them to meet up. Before the next contests start. I'm going to need your help. We have to get them to be p-"_

But she was cut off as Drew said lightly, "Absol?" He turned his attention to his trainer for a second before turning back to where the purple cat was before only to find her gone, the spot left as if no one was ever there.

Absol gently lay down next to Drew, a sinking feeling in his heart.

-.-.-

"Espeon?" May called through her house, though no one had seen any sigh of her anywhere. Slightly frantically May called to all her other pokemon and without a word she began to run towards her father's Gym. Blaziken gently picked up Seadra (who could not run on land) and they were all following their distressed trainer.

_(five minutes later)_

"Dad?!" May called through the empty front room of the Gym. "DAD?!" she called again, slightly louder.

Then she heard a loud roar from the battle room and she went to the doors, calling her pokemon to follow behind her.

What she saw before her eyes frightened her to no end.

In front of her there had to be at least ten rocket grunts, with a very agrivated looking Giovanni behind them. In front of them were at least 10 pokemon all bearing down on her father's unconscious body, the forms of his Slaking, Vigoroth, Furrett, Persian, and Kangaskan around his fainted body, his Ursaring the only pokemon from his team left standing, though it was badly injured.

But by the looks of it her father's pokemon had done well. At least a dozen of Team Rocket's pokemon were down leaving these pokemon:

Parasect, Murkrow, Marowak, Houndoom, Omastar, Electabuzz, Slugma, Beedrill, Crobat, and a Mawile.

And they all looked strong too. With one swipe of its mighty jaw the Mawile finished off her father's last defense and Ursuring went crashing to the floor with a mighty thud. May could watch in the shadows no longer.

The evil people and pokemon began to crowd around her father and his beloved pokemon and she jumped out of the shadows.

"You will NOT touch him!" She declared, her voice never wavering.

-.-.-

Espeon was running quickly through the forest when the gem on her forehead began to glow a bright red… red, that's weird her jewel was purple…

Then she heard it. In her mind she heard May scream in pain as shadowed pokemon from all sides send their attacks at her. Espeon saw all of May's pokemon limply on the ground around her, including herself and there was nothing any of them could do to stop it… except her.

She quickly turned around and prayed to all that was good and holy that Drew and Absol had not left their campsite just yet.

-.-.-

"Come on Absol, let's get going." Drew said quietly, his old arrogance practically non-existent in his voice.

Absol merely stood looking worriedly at the spot where Espeon had been. He was sad that she had left, but there was something else. Every part of his body said that she would be in danger and she needed him and would come looking, that he should not leave just yet.

"Sol." He said, shaking his head no in case Drew did not catch his meaning.

"Fine," Drew said, gritting his teeth and pulling out its pokeball, "Absol, return."

But Absol would not just give up like that. It jumped away from the red light and landed even closer to the spot where Espeon had been before.

'_I wonder what's up with Absol, he's never disobeyed me before._' Drew thought, concerned. At that moment a figure burst through the trees and Drew was sent into a tidal wave of emotions.

-.-.-

"You whimpy girl, how dare you burst in here during one of our operations, and without any pokemon to protect yourself too!" One of the male grunts said.

May merely snapped her fingers and her five pokemon came bursting into the room.

The grunts all burst into whispers: 'those pokemon look strong' 'who IS she?' 'That Dragonair is amazing, it'll be MINE.'

May got frustrated and said, "My pokemon look strong because they ARE strong, unlike yours. My name is May Maple, daughter of Norman of the Petalburg gym-"

"Just because you are related to a famous and strong trainer does not make you strong-" cut in one of the female grunts.

"-Holder of TWO Ribbon Cups. And you will never have my Dragonair, it is far too strong for you to handle." May said the last part with a small smirk Drew-fashion on her face.

"Why you little- Lets go guys! Attack!" said almost all of the grunts at un-coordinated timing, making their words hard to decipher.

Calmly the girl tossed her brunette hair out of her face, a blue fire blazing in her eyes. The only Rocket member who was not affected in any way was Giovanni, who had remained silent so far, his mouth merely a thin line. She then spoke, fast but surely.

"Dragonair, stop them ALL with Psychic, then fire an Ice Beam, I don't care which you aim for. Blaziken, you follow with a Blaze Kick, Bellossom, Petal Dance. Seadra, I want you to use Hydro Pump. Beautifly, use silver wind then go get Max for me will you? Ask him to find dad's Miltank."

The grunts merely looked on with awe as half of their pokemon fainted from May's attacks, the only ones left standing were Houndoom, Electabuzz, Marowak, Mawile, and Crobat.

"Ah, now it's even. Seadra, Blaziken, Bellossom, Dragonair, go take care of the rest of them, I'm going to make sure Dad is alright!" Declared the young coordinator.

They all verbally agreed at the same time and May began to run over towards her father.

"Steelix! Go!" Called Giovanni, unnoticed to May and her pokemon, who were fiercely engaged in battle, Dragonair fighting two opponents.

-.-.-

"Beautifly, Fly Beauti! Beau Beautifly Utifly Beautifly! Beaut Fly Beautifly Eaut!" _(Max, May needs you! At the Gym, Team Rocket is there! Get Norman's Miltank!)_ said May's butterfly pokemon, vigorously flapping its wings and flying around Max's head.

Without another thought Max grabbed all of his pokeballs except for Gardevior's (he was still recovering) and Miltank's pokeball from his parents' room before sprinting out of the house.

'_Hang on May… I'm coming…_' Max thought frantically as he turned the bend in the road, heading off to the Gym.

-.-.-

"ESPEON! Espeon, espi peon Espeon!" _(DREW, ABSOL! Hurry, May needs us!)_

"Espeon, what happened to May?!"

"Espi Espeon! Espeon Peon Espi!" _(No time! We need to teleport NOW!)_

And with that the jewel on her forehead glowed lilac and the three of them were gone, taken to another place. Hoping… hoping that they were not too late.

-.-.-

"Go Steelix! Attack her!" That was the last thing May heard before the world went dark. She felt a rock-like object pummel her middle and she heard the sickening cracks that were her ribs and various other bones shattering on impact, then she was flying, flying through the air…

A bright light filled the corner of the room and Drew appeared with Espeon and all of his pokemon out and ready to fight, but never was he prepared for what he saw before his eyes.

At that same moment Max burst through the doors with Beautifly right behind him and they both were there to witness the heart-shattering noise erupting from six pokemon.

It is said that when a trainer with a strong bond to their pokemon has little chance of survival the pokemon scream in anguish because they can feel some of the pain of their masters, but never did Drew or Max or even any of the Team Rocket members expect to hear six of these shrieks.

Just them May hit the wall and another sickening crack was heard as first her back then her head hit the wall, she was at least 50 feet in the air.

Thinking fast, through the tears on his face (it was the first time in eight years that Drew had cried) Drew called to May's pokemon, "Espeon, use Psychic, don't let her hit the ground!"

All of May's other pokemon turned to face the offending Steelix, hatred glinting in all their eyes. Seadra bellowed loudly before flashing white and evolving to show a glorious Kingdra, almost half a foot bigger than any other Kingdra ever seen.

Max ran over to his sister, tears in his eyes as he looked down at her mutilated body. "Miltank, let's go! Use Heal Bell!"

**(With Drew)**

Giovanni had now called out his other pokemon, within seconds his Steelix was out cold, and May's pokemon were not going to back down. Most of the grunts stared in horror at what their leader had done, leaving their pokemon easy targets for Flygon and Absol's attacks, I sent Roselia over to May, perhaps aromatherapy will soothe her pain a little. Masquerain is comforting Beautifly and Rapidash I sent to get a Nurse joy or someone else who could help. Milotic is also with May, trying to use Recover.

Once every one of the Grunts had been defeated along with Giovanni himself, all of the scoundrels bound in a cage, the bars made of fire, ice, petals and electricity formed and held together by Espeon's Psychic all of us headed over to May.

She looked worse than I thought she could. The only parts of her that seemed unaffected was her face and her right hand. I took it in my own and gently squeezed it, my tears falling freely onto May's face that was so peaceful.

"Keep it up guys," I whispered to all of the pokemon. Dragonair redoubled its Heal Bell and Recover attacks, Roselia and Bellossom using aromatherapy, Beautifly attempting a Morning Sun, Milotic using Recover also. Max's Starmie also tried a Recover attack, and when May did not revive it made Drew anxious.

It seemed like his heart was going to explode.

All of May's pokemon began to wail in anguish, including little Skitty who came and sat gingerly by May's side, licking her cheek.

All of the Pokemon were now crying along with Drew and Max.

Slowly, ever so slowly May opened her eyes. Drew looked down at them and saw her beautiful sapphire orbs clouded with pain. He had dreamed of and imagined the next time he would see her beautiful eyes, but he knew seeing her eyes this way would haunt him for the rest of his life.

"D-Drew…" She said, with extreme difficulty.

"Shh May, don't talk right now, once you get better we'll talk, 'kay?" Drew said lightly to her.

"You… and I both… know that that might… not happen Drew… You have to know…" She said, stopping at intervals to take shallow breaths. Drew rubbed comforting circles on her hand and the ghost of a smile came to her face.

"I L-love you Drew… I always have… Please, please take… take care of them… for me…" she said, trailing off and raising her hand slightly, trying to indicate all of her pokemon and her brother.

"I love you too May, I love you too…" Said the green-haired boy with crystalline tears in his eyes.

The girl smiled slightly and her eyes slowly closed and her head fell backwards.

"No… May, no… please is there is someone up there, PLEASE bring May back to me." Drew said, the tears overflowing on his face once more, and he could have sworn he saw a glint of yellow at the window before the doors burst open and in came a very distressed Caroline, followed by Nurse Joy with a whole team of Chansey and Blissey behind her with stretchers that were not needed. Espeon lifted May carefully with its Psychic as she saw the many Officer Jennies hand cuff the Team Rocket members.

Norman and his pokemon were levitated by Dragonair and the party rushed as fast as they could to the hospital, Drew never letting go of May's hand.

'_Please_' Drew thought, '_With all of my heart I wish and I hope that may will be alright, but we need a miracle now_'.

-.-.-

_(completely new person/pokemon, right before May entered the Gym; far enough from May that it is night time there)_

He stretched his little arms before looking up and seeing no comet in the night sky. That was odd. He looked around at all of the human 'advancements' and found very few… very odd.

Then he felt a presence next to him and he smiled at her. _"What are you doing here?"_ He asked her in a cute little voice.

"_You are needed in Petalburg City. I know the comet is not here but it is of… importance to a human you would call 'Max' that you save a human called 'May'. I also want to help her to repay the people 'Ash' and 'Drew' who both have helped me in the past" _Said the small green pokemon, half-cheerfully.

"_Thank you Celebi." _

"_You must hurry young one, your time is running out."_

And with that a small pop filled the night and Celebi was left alone to her thoughts before she, too, vanished into the night.

**A/N: so how was it? Was it too over-dramatic:/**

**Well anyway, next chapter is when our newest character shows up, three guesses as to who it is (not that hard to guess). I'll tell you it's a legendary pokemon, if you had any doubts you should know now, anyway…**

**I'm sorry if it seemed rushed or not very well-written, I'm not feeling too hot today…**

**Hmm… I'll update once I get… 15 reviews, how about that?**

**Drew: How is that fair?! I did the stinking Disclaimer for you!**

**Me: Don't worry rose boy, I have a plan.**


	4. We mourn for those we believe to be lost

**A/N: Hey guys, sorry for the morbidity of the last chapter, but it'll get better I promise.**

**If anyone has some good ideas for my story PMing me would be good, it's kinda one of those things that you have a definite plot line and you know where it's going to end, but you need some major events to help you get there?**

**Yeah, if you wanna help I'd really appreciate it.**

**Since everyone is moping about May (Only I know what'll happen; laughs evilly) I'll do the disclaimer.**

**I do not own pokemon.**

**mystery pokemon enters**

**Me: squeals AWW! You're so cute! Almost as cute as May and Drew together!**

-.-.-

I flew along through Petalburg city looking for anyone who could help me.

Suddenly I saw it! The Petalburg Gym. I looked in the window and I was shocked at what I saw. There was a girl, laying limply on the floor, her brown hair all around her face and a boy crouched over her, his chartreuse locks clearly visible from the window I was looking in through. I saw all the pokemon surrounding her and in their heads I heard the same plea: _'I wish May was here with us!' _or _'I wish May were better… if May gets better I'll never eat her sandwiches again! Promise!'_. Suddenly the green-haired boy looked over at me and for a split second I locked gazes with his clear green eyes before I flickered out of sight, still keeping a careful watch over the Gym. I saw women come with many Chansey and Blissey and even a few Growlithe. I shook my head, those pokemon would not be able to help… I was her only hope now.

I followed behind the group in the trees and I spotted Max walking stiffly beside the woman, who I guessed was his mother, tears spilling down his cheeks. _'Oh Max…'_ I thought, _'either you or Drew or Ash has to make a wish first… before I can help… that is my duty.'_

Then a thought came into my head, so loud so clear, it rang through my skull and seemed to vibrate until it penetrated my whole body. I stopped flying and fell to the ground, my hands clutching my head, my eyes almost brimming with tears. The words continued to echo through my brain before they slowly died out, and then I heard them one last time:

'_With all of my heart I wish and I hope that May will be alright, but we need a miracle now_'

I smiled, that was a voice I was looking for, that was the voice of Drew. That was the voice that meant that I could save that poor girl.

Jirachi, wish maker was back to work once again.

With that happy thought I followed the people that were running off to the pokemon center, which was closer than any hospital.

-.-.-

Oh, gods. Lugia, Celebi, Jirachi, Deoxys! Someone help May! I'd give anything if she would just wake up, even if she never loved me again, just let me look into those beautiful blue eyes one more time. Let me hear her musical voice again – even if the only way I'll hear it is one of her angry comebacks.

Let her be okay…

Please…

-.-.-

The tears were freely spilling from the eyes of all of the humans present, except for of course May and Norman who were both unconscious. Nurse Joy let one lone tear trail down her cheek as they escorted the two through the front doors. She remembered the girl, and her father and brother even, running in through these doors many-a-time with wounded pokemon in their arms. She smiled at a memory as she looked at Kingdra who was out in the pond next to the Pokemon Center, looking through the glass doors, annoyed.

_**Flashback**_

'_Nurse Joy! Nurse Joy!' she turned around to see a girl clad in almost all red run through the doors of the pokemon center, a Gloom close on her heels, a limp figure in her arms._

_She ran to the desk, quite out of breath. 'Nurse Joy, we were practicing down by the lake, Gloom and I, and we heard a noise. We turned around to see a large group of water pokemon in the lake. We went to watch what they were doing and we realized that they were picking on this cute little guy because of his size… oh Nurse Joy, say we're not too late.' May gasped._

_The nurse merely smiled at the brunette girl, her sapphire eyes sparkling with emotions before taking the limp little Horsea in her arms and heading to the Emergency Room._

_**End Flashback**_

-.-.-

"WHAT?!" Misty screamed into the phone that she had picked up because Ash and Brock were being lazy. She was met with none other than the face of May's younger brother Max, tears streaming down his face.

"Are… are you sure?" Misty asked, quite seriously.

"Yes, Nurse Joy says there's little chance that she'll… that she'll make it out of this center al-alive." He said, his voice cracking, and Misty could see his mother come over to comfort him, two small black lines running down her face before the phone went blank.

"Ash, move your lazy butt!" she yelled as she went past the living room in the tiny apartment the friends were sharing.

"What do you want NOW Misty? Pikachu and I are watching baseball! The Magikarps and KILLING the Electabuzz. I mean, I warned Casey all those years ago. Do you rememb--"

"Shut your big fat trap Ash, you wanna know who called?" She asked as the tears started pouring down her face.

Brock, being in the kitchen, went over to her to console her. Pikachu hopped in seconds later before turning back to the living room and jolting Ash from the couch into the room Misty was in (literally jolting I might add)

"Who called Misty?" Brock ashed soothingly as Ash took a seat next to them at the little table.

"M-max." Both boys froze, they had not heard from Max since the first Grand Festival May had won…

"And what did he have to say?" Ash asked, rudely. That was typical Ash for you though, blunt and straight to the point. Dense too.

"T-team Rocket attacked Petalburg Gym earlier this morning." Both boys gasped before she continued. "Norman tried to fight all off the grunts off with the six pokemon he had on hand, but they didn't play fair… according to Max they had over twenty out. T-they attacked Norman too. Apparently Espeon had gone missing and May went to look for her, thinking she was at the Gym. S-she got there in time to see Ursaring, her dad's last standing pokemon fall."

Ash's eyes glinted dangerously and Brock's knuckles whitened around the coffee mug had been limply holding, soap suds still on it.

"A-and she had Dragonair, Blaziken, Seadra, Bellossom, and Beautifly to attack the remaining Team Rocket pokemon before sending Beautifly to go get Max, or at least that's what the one grunt that would talk said. T-then May went over to make sure her dad was alright…" Misty trailed off, bursting into tears. Ash patted her back awkwardly before she continued.

"Giovanni, he… he sent his Steelix out and ordered it to attack May directly, none of her pokemon saw it coming… They couldn't help her in time." Misty stopped, gulping. The older boy had a clear stream of tears running down his face, but Ash still looked puzzled. "M-max got there to see her hit the wall. He said Drew appeared with all of his pokemon and Espeon there too. Espeon caught her with it's Psychic before she could hit the ground…"

The black-haired trainer looked over at his friends and asked, stupidly, "But that'd only be a few broken bones right, nothing that her Dragonair couldn't handle--" but he was cut off by the moody girl in front of him.

"Don't you think they tried Ash?" she hissed before continuing, "Max said that both Miltank and Dragonair used heal bell, Roselia and Bellossom aromatherapy, Dragonair, Starmie, and Milotic all using Recover and Beautifly using Morning Sun! Do you know what that MEANS Ash?! Eight, not one _eight_ healing attacks did not help her and she is currently in Petalburg Pokemon Center, on what is a 99.9 percent chance is her death bed and her brother said that she would want her friends there!!"

Neither Brock nor Ash had ever seen Misty like this before. "Lets go then." Both of them said quickly and Misty grabbed two pokeballs from her bag before making sure her other four were there. She grabbed the two boy's arms and dragged them towards the ocean, away from the port.

"Oh, Misty. The boats are THAT way." Said Ash, stupidly.

"I know that. Boats are too slow. LETS GO! Dewgong! Tentacruel!" she said as she threw the two pokeballs in the air. She climbed onto Dewgong's back along with Brock before Ash climbed onto the huge jellyfish pokemon in front of them grumbling something about stupid hotheaded short-tempered cootie-infested spiteful malicious red-headed girls.

Misty sent him and evil glare and Ash was suddenly shut up by one of Tentacruel's large tentacles.

"He's 21 years old and he still believes in cooties! Unbelievable!"

And then they were gone, anyone watching would wonder how two pokemon could go so fast, but it was true if you squinted you would barely be able to see two black dots on the horizon.

-.-.-

"She's WHAT?!" a pretty girl asked, her long orange-pink hair flowing behind her as she watched her chartreuse-haired friend on the other end of the phone with tear stains on his face, she could see him holding back the tears he had managed to stop long enough to call her.

"Dying, Soledad. May is dying…"

But he was cut off. She quickly pressed the button to turn off the phone, leaving the receiver on it's spirally cord hanging close to the ground. She spun around, her steel-blue eyes clouding with tears towards Fortree City's Nurse Joy who was on the phone with another nurse, tears in her eyes as well.

She took one look at Soledad and handed her her six pokeballs without a word before saying, "I'm so sorry." And turning back towards the phone. That must have been the Petalburg City Nurse Joy she was talking to.

"Pidgeot, let's go!" she shouted before hopping onto its back and flying off into the distance.

-.-.-

Drew sat down in the pokemon center lobby, his head in his hands and he simply sat there, shaking violently crystalline tears pouring from his eyes. What had she done to deserve this?

He watched as a Nurse Joy appeared in the room accompanied by a small Spoink before the two of them ran off, probably to heal the pokemon while the other nurse helped May.

Soon Drew heard shouting from outside and he looked up to see what it was.

Off in the distance he could see the figure of two pokemon and what looked like people riding on them. The girl in the front was a dead giveaway when he made out the orange hair and heard what she was yelling: '_Ash, you insensitive JERK! A time like this and all you can think of is FOOD?!?_'

Max looked up from his seat next to Drew and smiled, wiping away his tears. Drew did the same before going outside to greet the new people. Instead of running up like Max did to these people he instead went over to a clearly distressed Kingdra and sat down next to him.

"It's alright big guy." Drew whispered to him.

"Dra King, King Kingdra!" _(But maybe if I had noticed that Steelix earlier…)_

"There was nothing you could do Kingdra, there was nothing any of us could do."

"Kingdra, Dra Dra Kingdra King!" _(But if I could have… I miss her so much!)_

"I miss her too Kingdra, I miss her too." Drew said before bursting into tears once again. He didn't notice the four figures lingering behind him, looking on in grief at his crumpled figure which was now clinging to a mourning Kingdra with tears splashing down both of their faces.

And with their attention focused on the green-haired green-eyed coordinator, none of them noticed the graceful Pidgeot land behind them, or see the pretty woman run over to Drew until she was already in front of them.

She gently dislodged him from the distressed pokemon and cradled him in her arms, murmuring in his ears over and over again, '_we all do, we all do…_'

It rang in their ears and at the exact same time they all again wished that May was alright and standing in front of them again.

In the distance, a small pokemon broke into a smile before carefully zooming past the distressed humans into the pokemon center, only coming across a bustling Chansey. Once the unfortunate pokemon did a double-take to see who was there she found the hall deserted. Poor thing…

-.-.-

Slowly, Norman opened his eyes to be met with his wife's puffy red ones, two long black lines down her cheeks from crying so much.

"Oh, Norman." She breathed before giving him a large hug. The tears still rolled down her cheeks, and Norman began to wonder what happened to Team Rocket and how he had gotten to the pokemon center.

When he asked his wife she wailed and threw her head into his chest and he stroked her hair lovingly and making gentle 'shh'ing noises, waiting for her to be ready to talk.

"It's May…" She began, and he felt his blood run cold.

-.-.-

The three friends, along with Max and Soledad had been able to comfort Drew, who was still crying slightly, and Misty knew he was embarrassed. He was one of the most egotistical guys she had ever met, of course this would hurt his 'manly pride'. Inwardly she rolled her eyes. _Men…_

Then she noticed the Kingdra in the pond and she marveled at its size and radiance. She went over to it and bent down, touching it on the forehead. It looked up at her questioningly, but she merely smiled before letting out her six pokemon in the large pond with it, maybe they could help in the moral support department when the humans went to see May.

She turned to go inside before telling her pokemon, Dewgong, Tentacruel, Staryu, Azumarill, Vaporeon, and Luvdisc to help Kingdra in any way possible.

She, nor anyone else, didn't notice little Luvdisc jump out of the pond as the larger pokemon began to crowd around their mourning comrade and follow her inside. The little pokemon shot a small glance in Drew's direction before hopping down the hall into a certain Brunette's room, unnoticed by the nurse. The only living thing to notice it was a small pokemon with a star-shaped head and big midnight blue eyes.

-.-.-

Celebi zoomed through the trees in Petalburg City, looking for the pokemon center. She hoped against hope that Jirachi had found the girl and helped her by now. She had to be here for when he was finished though, because when he was finished she had to take him back, and put him back to sleep for almost a thousand more years…

"GOT YOU!" a high-pitched voice said while grabbing Celebi from behind. She whipped around, big eyes wide.

Behind her were three… men? (was that one a man?) One had purple hair and a Cacturne outfit on and she merely scowled at him, assuming it WAS a him. The next was none other than Giovanni himself. The time-travel pokemon's eyes grew cold, and hatred was clearly visible through them. Then she saw a man she had never seen before. He had on a leather vest over a black t-shirt with ripped and tattered pants. He scared Celebi, but it was not his clothing that made him intimidating, he also had weapons… lots and lots of weapons…

"You stupid little BUG," started the purple-haired man. "I know your attempts of saving May, and you are going to die right here so that won't happen." He hissed menacingly.

Then he signaled to the scary man who pulled out a long tube and dropping something sharp on the inside. Before she could react he had blown it into her and it hit her squarely on the side. She screamed out in pain before glowing blue and disappearing from sight, leaving the evil men laughing behind her.

"That's the last we'll ever see of 'poor' Celebi." The man in the cacturn outfit stated. The scary man nodded, showing that he agreed. And Giovanni merely scowled harder before walking off into the blackness of the woods…

**A/N: Dun, dun, dun.**

**I couldn't stand it, so I went ahead and posted this chapter. Pretty much a simple fluffy getting-ready-for-the-waterworks-and-dramatic-next-chapter kind of thing. Sorry that it's shorter than the others.**

**:o Poor May. Poor Celebi. Poor Drew's ego. Poor May's family. Poor gender-confused Harley… wait, he's not sad about anything… whatever. Poor May's pokemon.**

**The only happy one is a freaking star that floats and only wakes up one week out of every thousand years. But, anyway.**

**PLEASE review. If I get enough I might post the next chapter tonight.**

**dangles that in your faces**


	5. We celebrate for those who have returned

**A/N: Hey guys! It's May's Magical Recovery chapter! Can everyone say 'YAY!' ?**

**Well, I guess not, because it's not **_**all**_** happy… because I'm half evil if you haven't noticed yet, but I am a sap for happy endings, keep that in mind folks.**

**Someone do this disclaimer for me… too lazy…**

**Drew: she doesn't own Pokemon, if she did my heart would be COMPLETELY SHATTERED right now. Gee thanks.**

**Me: aww. It gets better, I promise.**

**Drew: that's what you said LAST chapter. **

**Me: Well, it'll be better in this one I promise.**

**Drew: grumbles about stupid authors with too much stupid free time wrecking his stupid fictional life.**

**Me: What did you say? –glares-**

**Drew: ON WITH THE STORY!**

-.-.-

I felt the intense pain shoot up my side and I cried out once before I, in desperation, decided to flee.

My powers being weakened, however, meant that I could not travel far. When I opened my eyes I was seeing the same town I had just been in. I looked around and saw some major things that had happened in the future Petalburg City.

Then I spotted two teens fighting, blushes painted over their cheeks, neither one the wiser to the other's feelings.

"You're just jealous of my amazing abilities!" The boy shouted.

"Oh yes, because it was all YOU, and none of it had to do with Teddiursa did it?!" The girl said back, fuming.

"Oh no, of course not!"

SLAP

The hit reverberated through the city, all else went quiet and everyone, including me watched the two bickering in the town square.

"Don't you _ever_ underestimate the power of your pokemon, and don't EVER _use_ the love they have for you to win, because it will just end in broken hearts, Norman!" She said before running off in the opposite direction, fresh tears trailing down her cheeks.

"Bi…" I said sadly before following her as fast as I could with the… thing still lodged into my side.

"Caroline!" The boy shouted. "Caroline, come back." He said in little more than a whisper.

-.-.-

I closed my eyes and focused on the girl lying in front of me, I looked down at her crumpled form sadly; almost all of her ribs had to be broken, along with her spine and possibly her skull. Then it hit me, I could help her, but there might be pains I could not take away. It was too much, her body had been so damaged, I could let her live but for example, she might never walk again, or see again, or something equally as bad. But I had to try, for no one deserves to die because they were protecting those they love.

"It's okay May, I'm here now." I say in a low voice, as not to startle her if she can somehow hear me.

I could have sworn I saw a small smile on her lips before I closed my eyes and then my form began to outline in pink. I started on her ribs, carefully placing each one back in its rightful place, making sure they were secure before moving another one.

-.-.-

Maybe if Jirachi had been paying more attention to his surroundings as he worked he would have heard the two voices drifting quietly down the hall, or their nearly-silent footsteps. But between his concentrating and the loud voices of the teenagers in the lobby he did not hear the voices, and he continued his work. Finishing her ribs and moving to her spine. It was quickly finished as well.

Soon he was moving to her head, making sure her skull wasn't broken and that there was no brain damage. When he found none a small smile played at his lips.

He had just finished checking her lungs for any piercings (broken ribs can do that you know…) and was happy when he found none, this May, she was a fighter.

Then his thoughts were interrupted.

"Ji-jirachi?" The voice behind him quivered.

-.-.-

I turned around to see Max staring at me with Drew by his side, both boys with tear stains on their faces. I giggled a little before flying over to them and whipping the lines of tear stains off of their faces and giving Max an Ursaring hug before saying, "Now you don't want to look so sad for when she wakes up do you?"

Then I flew out the window looking for Celebi so I could just go back to sleep as I heard May moan in slight pain. Of course she'd be sore… nothing her pokemon couldn't help later.

Now where did Celebi go?

-.-.-

I didn't dare believe my eyes when I saw Jirachi, one of the pokemon I had prayed to not three hours ago floating above May's still form, which looked well… normal! It couldn't be… _Don't get your hopes up Drew_ I told myself over and over again, but I couldn't help it, inside I was giddy, from head to foot.

But, she had to have had at least half of her ribs broken before, and now they were all healed. Her chest is now rising and falling of its own accord. That was another good sigh.

Her hand moved slightly and I fell to my knees at the side of her bed, my head cupped in my hands and I cried in relief. Somewhere off in the distance I heard Max run out of the room, no doubt to go get the others.

I gently wiped the tears off of my face and went to sit at her bedside.

_Please, May… please wake up._ I thought, and only seconds later her eyes opened and revealed the sapphire orbs that I had wanted to see for two years now.

"D… Drew?" She asked, her voice low.

-.-.-

"I know this is a hard topic, but I really think that you and your family should be planning for the… worst case scenario. I can promise you that if she does recover there is a huge chance of brain damage, paralyzation, or other life-long injuries." Nurse Joy said sadly. Caroline hung her head and wept while Norman pulled her into his strong arms, trying to comfort her.

_Pat, pat, pat…_

None of the three adults heard the gentle, yet quick, patting noise outside in the hall… almost as if someone was running. But May's pokemon DID hear it. Beautifly left its perch (which was Norman's head), Skitty perked up it's ears after standing, Blaziken took its head from its hands and looked towards the door, Bellossom wiped the tears from its green face, Dragonair went over to the door.

_Pat, pat, pat, creakkkk…_

Espeon was up and out of the door as soon as it was opened. Even Munchlax stopped eating to look up at Max, who was completely ruffled and there was a bright red patch appearing across the tops of his cheeks, not in a blush, as if he had run all the way here.

The reactions of the humans were slightly slower, Norman looked questioningly at his son and Nurse Joy looked at him wearily. Caroline kept her head firmly in the crook of Norman's neck however.

"It's… May…" Max gasped between breaths. His mother's head shot up at once, her hair a mess, half of her face black from running mascara. There was hope in his mother's eyes, and he was excited that this time, his news would allow that hope to stay.

"She's… she's healed, Nurse Joy! Jirachi… Jirachi helped her! Drew's in… in there right now. I think… she'll wake up soon." Even before Max had finished his statement, Caroline was out of bed and rushing to her daughter's room. Nurse Joy soon after her. After shooting his son a thankful look Norman too got out of his bed and went to follow his wife. He gently put his hand on the teen's head and whispered, 'tell the others' before he, too, was gone.

The only pokemon that remained was Munchlax, who was finishing up the last of the pokemon food in the room, Max knew he'd go to see May soon, after all, her room was the closest one with pokemon food still in it.

-.-.-

All May felt was blackness; blackness and pain. It seemed like the abyss would consume her, then in a place that looked miles away, yet inches from her face was the form of Jirachi. Maybe he was here to take her to heaven, away from all of the pain.

_It's okay May, I'm here now_

I managed a small smile, I knew he would not lie to me. Suddenly the blackness was replaced. Replaced with a pinkish glow. Then I felt, one by one, painful things happening in my body, but I bit my lip and held it in. It was not as horrible as the feeling when I hit that wall, or when I thought I would lose my father and my pokemon to those monsters. I would get through this.

Then it all stopped, and the blackness was replaced, replaced with a memory, but to May, she thought it was only a dream.

_**Said 'Dream' Begins**_

"_D-Drew…" She said, with extreme difficulty._

"_Shh May, don't talk right now, once you get better we'll talk, 'kay?" Drew said lightly to her._

"_You… and I both… know that that might… not happen Drew… You have to know…" She said, stopping at intervals to take shallow breaths. Drew rubbed comforting circles on her hand and the ghost of a smile came to her face._

"_I L-love you Drew… I always have… Please, please take… take care of them… for me…" she said, trailing off and raising her hand slightly, trying to indicate all of her pokemon and her brother._

"_I love you too May, I love you too…" Said the green-haired boy with crystalline tears in his eyes._

_The girl smiled slightly and her eyes slowly closed and her head fell backwards._

_**Said 'Dream' Ends**_

May opened her eyes slowly, only to see the green-haired, green-eyes coordinator of her dreams. She tried to smile slightly, but she gave up once she felt how sore all of her bones and muscles seemed to feel.

"D…Drew?" she asks, almost hesitantly as if this could be a dream too.

"Yes May?" He asked, slightly less arrogant than usual, but he tried to mask up his concern and happiness that she was well. And if he were to be honest with himself he did not want to sound love-struck when she first saw him again, what if she had meant nothing of what she had said when he had thought she was dying. His pride would not be able to handle that. For now… for now he would wait, and watch because there was _no_ _way_ he was letting her out of his sight _any_ time soon.

"I-I… what happened? No, I don't want to know right now. I just had the most wonderful dream, if only it were true…" she sighed softly, but Drew caught it, he leaned down slightly, thinking she might have been in pain and May weakly raised her hand and brushed his hair out of his eyes for him.

"There," she said with a soft smile, "I fixed it for you… for once."

He laughed lightly and in that moment the door glowed blue and Drew was knocked back by a blur of purple.

When he looked up he saw May's Espeon sitting next to her and gingerly licking her face, purring happily. May was laughing and happy, and deep down Drew wondered '_why can't I be the one who makes her happy like that?'_

What he didn't know was what May was thinking deep down, her thoughts echoed through her brain, slightly ebbing away her happiness, but nothing could take it from her. But still the words reverberated in her head.

'_I wish my dream were true… than maybe I could be laughing and joking with Drew too… but he would never want someone like __**me**__.'_

-.-.-

"GUYS! GUYS!" Max called as he ran outside where Soledad, Ash, Misty, and Brock had all gone to stay with Kingdra who was getting sadder and sadder by the moment.

He wasn't going to ruin the surprise for them. He wanted to taunt them, his parents and the nurse deserved the truth, but this…. This was payback, mainly towards all of Ash's pranks and Brock's constant flirting and 'he-will-never-learn' attitude, the girls were just caught in the crossfire. He left the tear stains on his face, and tried to make his eyes look big and glassy, he messed up his hair a little and made sure he looked flustered. Perfect.

"It's… it's May, you can…" He broke off and sniffled a little, "Can go and see her now if you want…" he said.

Ash, Brock and Misty were up and running as soon as the words left his mouth, but Soledad merely smiled at him before releasing her Slowking and getting it to pick up Kingdra from the water.

As the three figures passed by she whispered to Max, "Be a little less dramatic next time and it'll be more believable. I'm glad May's alright." Before winking at him and walking off.

-.-.-

Soon all of May's pokemon and her parents were crowding around her, giving her hugs and kisses and (in whatever language they used) telling her how worried she had made them. She merely gave them a weak smile before responding to the small conversations they were having. The door opened behind them and Drew could see Soledad, and all of May's friends behind her and Slowking who was gently levitating May's Kingdra into the room, setting him down next to Drew.

"Dru!" He said happily to Drew, who found it kind of amusing that it sounded so much like his name. He gently patted the pokemon's head as they both watched the flock around May.

Drew decided he would leave and let Max come in, it should be only her family in here after all, right?

As he slowly got up a hush went through the room and he turned back to the bed where May was attempting to stand. She slowly walked over to him and sat down in the chair next to Kingdra, and Drew.

"Don't… don't leave Drew." She said.

"But wouldn't you rather be with your family?" He asked, puzzled.

"Well, no offense to them, but I HAVE seen them over the past two years…" She said thoughtfully before adding, "who's Kingdra is this? He's beautiful."

Kingdra looked slightly sad that she didn't recognize him, but elated by her compliment all the same. He nuzzled his head into her hand and she let out a little laugh.

"He's yours May." Drew said carefully, and she looked up at him with her innocent, big cerulean eyes. She then leaned down and hugged the pokemon tightly, who let out a small 'Kingdra!' of delight.

Drew carefully exited the room and stood outside with Soledad and the others, not even trying to make small talk. But he did notice that only Max and his friend looked calm, the others looked like they were on the verge of tears, Drew almost laughed out loud. They thought she was dead.

-.-.-

"I know this is a happy reunion," Nurse Joy began before becoming more business-like and professional, "But I have to check May for any injuries, even miracles can make mistakes." She added, trying to lighten the mood.

May's parents and pokemon slowly exited the room, none of them able to wipe the joy off of their faces, but two of May's pokemon refused to move. Dragonair and Espeon stayed by her side, and she sighed before nodding her head, allowing them to stay. Nurse Joy smiled before starting the check-up.

She was overjoyed at first with all the tests, everything seemed okay, until the very last one when a frown adorned her face.

"What's wrong?" may asked, her voice unable to mask her worry, her brows knitted together.

The weary nurse walked over to the door before locking it and coming to sit on the bed with May, taking her hand in her own. Espeon and Dragonair, realizing the tension in the air, snuggled next to May on the bed, there with her to await whatever the nurse had to say.

"May, do you remember when I said even miracles make mistakes?" Nurse joy began, trying to ease May into this realization.

May nodded, her bright eyes beginning to glaze over with unshed tears, she knew this would not be good.

"May, honey, the impact didn't only hit your ribs… I'm afraid it has done so much damage that you'll never have children of your own." The nurse said sadly, tears quickly running down her own cheeks, as well as May's. The pokemon nuzzled further into May, trying to offer comfort, but she felt none of it. She was numb, trying to look for a loop hole.

"But you mean it'd be hard to carry a child, right? There's still some chance…" she said, looking into the eyes of the woman in front of her.

"No May, I'm afraid not," she said, shaking her head sadly, "You'll never be pregnant at all."

The nurse looked into the girl's eyes, seeing the dark spots on the bed sheet where her tears had spilled over, she saw the knuckles on the girl's hand turn white as she gripped the bed sheet, she saw a little something die in the girl's beautiful eyes.

The last thing the girl said before getting up out of bed was, "Please Nurse Joy, please don't tell anyone, I'll tell them in my own time. A…and I want to go home, please?"

Her eyes were so pleading and all the woman still sitting on the bed could do was nodd as she watched the young girl walk out of the room – a miracle that no one ever thought would happen.

-.-.-

"Oh don't be silly kids, you can all stay at our house for as long as you want!" Caroline said, clinging to her husband's side. The friends all chided their 'thank you's and Norman told them where they could sleep. Misty and Soledad with May in her room, Drew with Max, and Ash and Brock in the living room.

No one complained and all fell silent as May entered the room, she began to walk out the doors, her head held high, her eyes still glassy, but no one questioned her. She merely got out all of her pokeballs before returning her pokemon, Espeon refusing to leave her side as she walked out into the sunlight towards her house.

-.-.-

_(in Max's room)_

"What do you plan on doing with my sister?" Max asked, a light flashing across his glasses. Drew gave in, he was going to be interrogated weather he liked it or not. Max had heard May and Drew's little 'scene' in the gym.

"I don't know…"

"Fine, do you love her?"

"Yes." Drew answered simply.

"Does she know?"

"No."

"Will you always protect her?"

"Always."

"Good enough; _for now_." Max said before he rolled over and turned off the lights. Leaving Drew to his own thoughts.

-.-.-

**A/N: Call me evil if you want, because if you call me evil, it means I get reviews, and I'm really starting to get scared that I like suck at writing or something and that's why no one is reviewing. It's pretty depressing to tell you the truth.**


	6. We play around with those we care about

**A/N: Alright, now we get to the fun part… CONTESTS and a little MayxDrew fun! **

**I'll go ahead and tell you that I am going to like writing this chapter much more than the last one.**

**Ohhh. And I think you should all go read my friend Izzy's story, Twisting the Truth! I love that story ( and talking to her, she's a cool one :3 )**

**Me: DREW! Do the disclaimer.**

**Drew: No.**

**Me: Do it or your happy reunion becomes bad all over again**

**Drew: Shining Hearts ( Bella ) doesn't own pokemon.**

-.-.-

May woke up earlier than usual to see a large pelican-like bird at her window. She slowly got up and went over to it, seeing that it had mail in its beak.

She pried the window open, which woke Bellossom up, she merely smiled widely at May before going back to sleep. Espeon was still on her bed, along with Bellossom. Kingdra was with Misty, Blaziken over in the corner where his chair was. Dragonair was right in between May and Soledad, and Beautifly was with said older girl. May smiled before turning back to the Pelipper.

May was quite surprised to find SEVEN of the same letters in the bird's satchel. She took them politely before looking at the names. There was one addressed to everyone in the house besides her mom.

Almost forgetting about the devastating news nurse joy had told her yesterday, May pranced down the stairs in a good mood. She poked Pikachu lightly who leapt into her arms and embraced her tightly. She whispered in his ear and he nodded vigorously before turning to Ash, who was snoring loudly on the couch.

"WAKE UP ASH!" The brunette yelled loudly in his ear at the exact same time that Pikachu used thundershock on him. He fell off the couch, twitching slightly and Norman came into the room, coffee mug in hand, wearing a robe before rolling his eyes at his daughter and going back to the kitchen.

"What was it honey?" May heard her mother's voice ask.

"Nothing honey, our daughter is just playing with her friends." Her father answered.

"Come on Pikachu," May said happily, "Let's go wake everyone else up."

Brock was already awake, laughing at Ash, who was now glaring at May.

The girl and the mouse-pokemon pranced up the stairs and Ash began mumbling to himself, 'stupid perky little bandana-wearing red-loving wakes-up-too-early cootie-infested girl!"

Brock just sweat-dropped before saying, "You seriously believe in cooties?"

-.-.-

Drew and Max spelt fitfully in the latter's room and when the green-haired boy heard the door to the room slamming he grumbled and turned to the other side and falling quickly back to sleep.

"hm, who to wake up first, which do you think Pikachu?" said May's voice pleasantly.

"PIKA!" _(both!)_

"Great idea Pkachu!" Then the girl turned to the two beds before lifting the covers from both boy's faces and taking a big breath.

"DREW, MAX WAKE UP OR PIKACHU WILL WAKE YOU UP FOR ME!" she yelled into their ears. Drew rolled over, his eyes wide and fell onto the floor with a loud thump. Max has bunk beds and Drew was on top… had to hurt.

Max however said something along the lines of "Figh moueh Mintus Meyyyy." She merely shook her head back and forth before nodding to Pikachu. About ten seconds later Max was on the floor with little electric sparks coming off of him randomly, twitching slightly.

Max was complaining, Drew was howling with laughter and May merely rolled her eyes.

"Why'd you wake us up May?" asked her brother indignantly.

"Go downstairs in the kitchen with mom and dad and Ash and Brock while I get the girls up, a surprise came in the mail today!" she answered before bounding off.

"she's so weird…" he muttered after she closed the door. Drew merely flicked his hair before getting dressed and walking down stairs.

-.-.-

"Come on guys, get up, don't make me use Pikachu!" I said to my friends, Misty was snoring, quite loudly I might add.

Soledad must be a light sleeper or something because as soon as I said that she sat up, stretched and pet Beautifly on the head a couple of times with two fingers before shooting me a questioning glance. I looked pointedly over at Misty then back and I saw the playful glint come into my orange-pink haired friend's eyes.

"are you thinking what I'm thinking?" she said.

"Tickle her awake?" I said, the glint in my eyes matching Soledad's

"Yep."

"Let's do this."

The pokemon watched in awe for a minute before giggling to themselves.

-.-.-

AHHHHHHHAHAHAHAHAHHHHH!

"What was that?" Caroline asked, concerned. She put her coffee mug down on the table and looked over to all of the boys (and her husband) around her.

"Dunno." Norman said, unconcerned.

"Sounds like Misty's voice." Brock mused.

"Misty's in trouble!!!" Ash yelled before leaping up from the table.

Everyone else sweat-dropped before the other kids ran after him to the girl's room. All of their jaws dropped as they saw what was going on.

There was Misty in the middle of the room, tangled in tons of blankets screaming and laughing her butt off with May and Soledad over her tickling her. Blaziken was in the corner snickering slightly with his arms crossed. Beautifly had joined in and had both of Misty's arms tied over her head with a string shot, Espeon was on the bed, paws folded enjoying the show. Dragonair looked half-amused and half worried as Misty's face turned red and tears streaked down her face. Kingdra was just sitting there, nonplussed. Bellossom giggled before trying to tickle the bottom of Misty's feet with her tiny hands.

Drew got this really evil look on his face before calling Espeon over with a look. All of the boys left the room with him (the girls not knowing they had even come in) with the purple cat pokemon and Drew bent down and whispered in her ear. She purred and he took that as a yes.

"Brock, you and Max get Soledad, Ash you get Misty, I'll get May. Let's go." The other boys looked confused, "You'll figure it out when we get in there."

Drew added, rolling his eyes. Max gave him a sly smirk which he ignored.

"Espeon, do your thing." He said as they opened the door. Soon all three girls were up in the air, their arms pinned above their heads and a blue light surrounding them. The boys gave Drew a little grin before going to the respective girl and tickling them.

"D-Drew…. Stop!" May said between giggles.

"I don't think I will thanks. This is too much fun."

He thought he heard her say something about a certain little purple cat pokemon traitor with Psychic abilities and paying later. He only smirked before going back to tickling her more.

-.-.-

"Should we interrupt them?" Caroline asked Norman worriedly as two more screams joined the first one.

"Nah, let them have their fun."

"Norman, they're screaming, that's not fun."

"Ah, but at their age merely being together would be fun, wouldn't you think? I seem to remember all of those fights with you being fun and all the adrenaline even if the only thing you told me was that I was a disgusting pig and that you hated me." He said, chuckling into his coffee cup.

"Whatever you say. Speaking of the old days Norman, do you remember that day when our whole outlook on each other changed…" she trailed off, looking to her husband.

"How could I forget, m'dear?" He replied, kissing her lovingly.

-.-.-

"Bi," I say again as I fly slowly after the girl. When I find her she is by a beautiful lake in the forest around the city. It is a marvelous sight. In her lap is a very tiny Sentret which she pets lovingly, her shoes by her side and her feel dangling in the water.

"Bi!" I say a little louder and she turns her head towards me.

Her eyes widened in shock She stood up shakily before walking over to me and reached out towards me. Her hand shook slightly as she brought it up close to my face and whispered, "Is this… is this real?"

I flashed her a small smile before crying out in pain again and my world went black, the pain in my side tripling.

-.-.-

"Alright everyone," May started, throwing her hands down hard on the table, the envelopes under them. "I got SEVEN letters in the mail today from the same place, there's one here for everyone… besides you mom, I'm sorry."

She hung her head at this but her mom merely sent her a big smile and wrapped her arms around her. "That's alright honey."

Everyone tore into their envelopes besides Norman who opened his slowly, as if he hadn't a care in the world about the contents – and he probably didn't to tell you the truth.

May looked around at her friends as they opened their letters, she had yet to look down at the paper in her slightly-shaking hand. They all had the same expression on their faces – shock, pride, wonder…

Then she looked down to read her own.

_**EXTREME CONTESTS – JOHTO STYLE**_

_This year we will be hosting some extreme contests in the Johto region, only the best of the best are invited to this event and it is for all pokemon breeders, coordinators, gym leaders (and frontier brains), and masters._

_All leagues and contests will be cancelled this year. There will only be one region (Hoenn) having a Grand Festival, and it will be for the up-and-rising coordinators, if you are reciving this and you are a coordinator I assure you this rookie ribbon cup would be too easy for you to take._

_These contests will have three parts. One as a breeder, the second a coordinator and the third a pokemon master. We won't tell you any more. This is your pass to enter, it will begin on March 20, so you'd better get moving._

_-Steven Stone_

_-Mr. Contesta_

_-Suzie_

May gawked at her paper before putting it down firmly and saying "I'm going." As if someone was going to try to stop her, and she was sure as hell right! None of her friends wanted her to go anywhere.

After a while of bickering she yelled, "I AM NOT A CHINA DOLL OR SOMETHING GUYS! JIRACHI GAVE ME THIS GIFT FOR A REASON AND I WILL NOT WASTE IT!"

Everyone was quiet and Drew was the first to nod his head, followed by Brock and Soledad, Misty and Max were next and said red-head elbowed Ash in the ribs until he nodded too.

"But we're traveling together." Max said firmly then added, "All of us."

May shook her head up and down enthusiastically, happy before running off to her room.

-.-.-

"Are you all ready to go?" Max called through the house.

"Wait Max, dad isn't even packed yet!" May called back before turning to her father.

He kissed her lightly on the forehead before saying, "Go on honey, I think I'll rather enjoy my year off. Your mother and I will be rooting for you. And Max, and well all of your friends too."

"Thanks dad!" May said before she bolted for the door and everyone who waited for her at it.

They all began to walk and though no one said anything everyone (except for Ash, ever the dense rock) had a feeling at the back of their necks like they were being watched. Soon they were out of Petalburg City limits as they headed for Rustboro. Drew said that they could get a plane or go on a ferry from the beach there.

Everyone was all smiles as they set out again, all of the pokemon in their pokeballs except for Pikachu of course, who was happily lounging on Ash's shoulder. Sometimes bouncing between May and Misty also.

Then a white light came from May's hip-pack and Espeon appeared at her side.

May laughed before saying, "You know Espeon, if you keep doing this then everyone else is going to get jealous!"

"Oh please May, why would they be jealous if she has to spend more time with YOU?" Drew said, he couldn't help himself she left herself wide open, and he found it so cute when she was mad at him.

May got an evil glint to her eyes before locking gazes with Espeon, the purple cat pokemon nodded before the jewel on its head glowed blue and sent Drew flying through the air.

"I DIDN'T MEAN THAT HARD ESPEON!" May yelled before running into the woods after Drew. Everyone followed close at her heels. Espeon snickered to herself. Get them closer, this would be _fun_.

-.-.-

'_I've looked everywhere and I can't find Celebi anywhere! I'm scared, I don't wanna be alone, maybe I should find Max! Yeah, that's what I'll do, I'll find Max!' _The wish pokemon thought to himself before zooming after the group of teenagers.

Little did Jirachi know what was behind him.

Back in the woods a pair of evil, yet dull blood red eyes followed him.

"Go after that pokemon. I want him, alive. I don't care about the children, but I do want their pokemon as well, especially that girl with the blue eyes and the boy with green hair. They should be punished. And if you find Celebi, kill it."

"Yes Giovanni, sir." The figure said before melting into the foliage around him and he was no longer visable for the shadows. The stern-looking man behind where he used to stand nodded once, his mouth still a grave line, three fairly new gashes disfiguring his face. Blood began to trickle slowly out of the largest one and he swore loudly.

"Damn that girl and her blasted beloved Espeon! I swear I will get back at them, they will PAY for what they did to my face!"

-.-.-

**A/N: Alright guys, I'm going to try to get one maybe two more chapters in before next Tuesday, and next Tuesday we have guests staying at our house (my dad's best friend his wife, their two sons, and their daughter who is my best friend, it's complicated) and they'll be staying for a week, so I might not get to update. I'm not sure. But I will try.**


	7. We thicken the plot for those involved

**A/N: Hey guys! Sorry about the wait. My dad's friends are coming in today and they'll be here until Sunday I believe. But they won't be HERE the whole time (They have family here too, so I'll have 'Bella time' to write if I want to)**

**Alright, here's the key for this chapter (This might be in the next chapter, depending on how long this one is and how lazy I am, I'm not sure yet)**

_Italics – May & Drew's answers_

Underlined – Brock & Max's answers

**Bold- Ash & Misty's answers**

_**Italicized bold – Soledad and Harley's answers**_

Normal type – not part of the Q&A.

**Okay, just to let you know… HARLEY AND SOLEDAD WILL NOT BE TOGETHER. They're just using the same font thingy so I don't give away the partner surprise thing, same for the others (Well, I did say this is CS and PS, so I guess you know those two, and if you know what LS is then you'll know Brock's partner too)**

**I don't know if anyone else has noticed, but May's pokemon like to come out at their own accord in my story… whatever.**

**ON WITH THE STORY!**

**Drew: Aren't you forgetting something?**

**Me: Like…?**

**Drew: The DISCLAIMER. My god, how did someone as stupid as you end up writing out my fictional life?**

**Me: You're LUCKY I'm writing it, so shut your pie hole. Anyway, I have this great story for you guys. I was on eBay, and I bought the most AMAZING thing-**

**Drew: The rights to pokemon? (cringes)**

**Me: No silly! No one would sell those to me, since I don't own it and I never will. They were these amazing socks…**

**Drew: You're weird…**

**Me: and they were bright blue with little pink and green polka dots and… oh, did you say something Drew?**

**Drew: (sighs) No, just start the story already. **

**Me: (Huffs) fine, if you insist rose boy. **

-.-.-

"DREW!" May yelled as she ran into the woods, Espeon at her heels, the rest of the group close behind them.

"May, slow down!" Max calls to her as he runs as quickly as his small legs will carry him, his glasses falling down the bridge of his nose.

"I don't have time for this!" May yells over her shoulder, "Espeon, TELEPORT!"

In a blue flash they're gone, just like that.

"Come on! We'll still have to find them when they find him." Brock states matter-of-factly before heading in the general direction that they were heading before May disappeared.

-.-.-

"Drew?" May called as she looked out over the lake Espeon had teleported them to and returned said pokemon, then she spotted a flash of green in the middle of the lake and flailing arms. "DREW!"

"Kingdra, let's go!" May calls, throwing her pokeball high in the air (in too much of a rush to care about showmanship) Kingdra chirped happily at her when he saw her, nuzzling his face into her small hand and she looked at him warmly before saying, "Kingdra, Drew's in trouble, can you carry the both of us? Are you strong enough?"

"King Dru Kingdra!" _(of course I am!) _He replied indignantly before turning waiting for May to get on his back.

Slowly Drew was going under and May couldn't do anything to stop it.

"Kingdra, use Extremespeed, then Dive to get him from under the water, don't worry about me!" The pokemon nodded before using its first move, taking them ten times faster than before. Before May knew it she was being drug through the water, grasping tight onto her pokemon, and she could see Drew right above a school of Barboach, arms splayed around himself, his hair fanned out, if it weren't for the lack of movement and air bubbles around him she would have said he looked peaceful.

May urged Kingdra on until they finally broke the surface of the water, May gasping for breath holding the boy who had stolen her heart tightly in her arms, willing him to wake up.

She felt his wrist and blanched, "Kingdra… I-I can't find a pulse."

-.-.-

"Oh my goodness!" the girl cried before picking up the small pokemon in to her arms. She hastily returned her Sentret to its pokeball before running off, looking down at the injection dart in the side of the poor thing.

She ran in to the city limits, ignoring the perplexed looks of the people around her. She didn't even notice her rival, Norman, sitting on the edge of the fountain that resided in the middle of town with his head in his hands, knees on his splayed legs.

She didn't notice him look up at her, she didn't notice his face brighten, she didn't notice when he called her name… twice, and she definitely didn't notice when he got up and followed her, worry etched on his face.

She just kept running, running for the life of the creature shuddering in her arms…

-.-.-

"Drew!" May called as she lay him down at the side of the lake. "Drew, can you hear me? Please, wake up!"

Suddenly a white light was next to May, and Dragonair materialized next to her weeping and crumpled form, her delicate hands draped over his chest, her tears unseen on his already soaked shirt.

"Air?" Dragonair asked, tilting his head. May didn't seem to hear him so he proceeded forward, going around her and the boy to his other side and lightly touching the end of his tail to the boy's chest. "Drag!" He yelled as his body, and the boy's, were engulfed in light pastel colors and May watched in astonishment as her pokemon's Heal Bell began to work.

"Drew?"

-.-.-

"Where are they?!" Max cried desperately, looking around at the trees surrounding him desperately.

"Ha! I wish I knew, my feet hurt!" Ash whined. A light engulfed them and Max thought he heard a soft giggling noise. Strange.

"There they are!" Soledad called as she ran over to the crumpled form of his sister and Drew. May was hunched over his body, her small one shaking with… sobs?

Suddenly her Dragonair came from its pokeball, looking to try and reassure May, but it didn't seem to work. It then went over to the other side of Drew and gently touched his tail to the boy's chest.

"Drag!" Filled the air and suddenly, both were covered in a bath of pastel colored light.

"Drew?" May whispered softly once her pokemon was once more at her side.

-.-.-

"May?" Drew answered back weakly, looking her over.

"Why are you all wet? And why is it so cold? What did you do to me?!" He asked, she winced as if his words had scalded her, but she held her own and stared back in to his eyes.

"I am all wet because I saved you with Kingdra's help, it's cold because you're wet too, and I didn't do anything unless you count accidentlytellingespeontousepsychiconyou!" She said the last part really fast, hoping he wouldn't catch it.

He frowned before saying, "Can you repeat that last part?"

"No." She said, crossing her arms over her chest.

"You're insufferable."

"Don't you owe someone a 'thank you'?"

"Yeah, I do!"

"…" May paused, waiting for his response.

"So, you going to call Kingdra out so I can thank him or not?" Drew asked, mock annoyance coloring his tone.

"WHY YOU LITT-" May said, being cut off by a flurry of pink-orange hair.

"My god you two! You scared me to death!" Soledad half-screeched into their ears.

"Sorry," They both muttered before looking away.

"Guess what this means?" Misty asked excitedly, bouncing up and down.

"What?" Ash asked, not realizing it was a rhetorical question that did not require an answer.

"We're going SHOPPING in Rustboro for new clothes for these two!"

"YAY!" May said, leaping up to her feet.

None of them noticed the small shadow behind them, watching them with a smile on his small face. _Maybe I'll keep my distance for now._

-.-.-

"Oh May, that is PERFECT!" Misty cooed as May stepped out of the dressing room. She blushed before looking down at herself, she did like the colors.

She was wearing an outfit similar to her old one, but the colors were black and electric blue instead of red and white, the pattern hearts instead of Pokeballs. She liked it a lot. She also liked her hair this way. It was down and curly, reaching just past her shoulders, a black headband pulling it slightly out of her face, her bangs hanging in front of it, a matching blue ribbon tied on the side of it.

Drew was off in a corner, unnoticed by May with an impatient Roselia pulling at his hand in irritation. He adorned a new pair of blue pants, the same color as Roselia's rose with a green shirt and a black vest over it. No one had noticed him yet and for this he was grateful.

"Come on guys!" Brock called, running in to the store right as May was finishing at the cash register. "We need to leave or we'll be late for the ferry!"

"Okay!" May yelled before dashing out of the store towards what she thought was the beach.

"Uh May?" Drew asked, coming up behind her.

"Ye- oh Drew…" She trailed off, blushing slightly, "Yeah, I, uh, like your new clothes." She finished lamely.

He smirked and flipped his hair, not noticing the smile gracing Soledad's face – she had her friends back. "May, the beach is _that_ way." He said before walking off to catch up with the others.

-.-.-

**(A/N: Alright guys, we all know how abysmally lazy I am, so we're skipping to the 'meeting in Cherry Grove City I forgot to mention it was there in the last chapter, sorry guys' because I don't feel like making up some cool thing they did on the way there.)**

-.-.-

"Settle down everyone!" Mr. Contesta yelled over the excitable crowd. The small group looked around, recognizing many faces – Almost all of the Gym Leaders were here, along with the frontier brains. Ash walked over to Anabel, probably to just say hello, but Misty followed him with fire in her eyes anyway. Brock caught Queen Lucy looking at him a few times, but was restrained by Max's vice-grip on his ear.

"Tracey!" Misty suddenly said, before running off, leaving Ash to talk to Anabel in peace, a faint red line traced over her nose.

"Hey, that kid looks like Ash." May suddenly said, pointing to a boy facing the other way, he indeed did look like Ash even down to the cute mouse pokemon resting on him, his hair a light brown and his clothes a light blue and green combination compared to Ash's Dark blue, red and black.

"Richie!" Brock yelled, finally recognizing the boy with the Pikachu on his shoulder. The boy turned before flashing them a marvelous smile and waving to Brock, but was soon lost in the crowd of people flooding in.

"SETTLE DOWN!" Mr. Contesta's voice boomed through the stadium, creating a hush throughout the room.

"Alright, now I bet you're wondering how this is going to work with so many people," He began, and everyone nodded.

"Well," Began another man, Steven Stone, "We're going to hold two contests at a time, so you can choose the ones you go to, and you will have a partner…"

"But be careful," a woman with blue hair and in a white coat, a Vulipx in her arms. "You must make smart decisions. You will need six different pieces of the map to the Elite Festival, and you don't want the same one twice now do you?" She asked, wagging her finger and winking.

"Now," Mr. Contesta began again, "You will be taking a written test to see who will be your partner!"

"Let's get this thing started!" Steven Stone called in to the crowd.

"But first, we would like to have a moment to remember a wonderful girl, a great coordinator." May's stomach clenched and unconsciously her friends edged closer to her. "We heard news of her protecting a well-known Gym Leader and his pokemon from the clutches of Team Rocket, her pokemon successfully fought off over ten of their pokemon without her command as she rushed over to help."

The whole crowd was silent, May stiff, but faintly she could hear Harley's fake sobs through the room. Suzie wiped her eyes before continuing. "But her nor her pokemon saw Giovanni's Steelix." At this there was an intake of breath around the room, everyone had heard of the legendary strength of that pokemon. "It-it attacked her directly, sending her flying into the back wall. Two unknown people came to her rescue, bringing one of her pokemon with them, Espeon, who stopped her before she hit the ground. Her pokemon fought and took Giovanni's Steelix down in seconds."

There were gasps through the crowd – so the beast was not invincible. "She was rushed to the pokemon center, and just three days ago the Nurse Joy there said there was little hope of her ever coming back out. Can we please have a minute of mourning for May Maple please!"

"WAIT!" May called through the crowd, but no one seemed to notice her as they began to clap in her memory, many crying silent tears.

"NO, STOP!" She yelled desperately.

"May, that's not going to work, get Dragonair or Espeon to use Psychic so you can force your way to the front, you might have to use both for this crowd." Max whispered in to her ear.

"Thanks Max," She said, giving him a half-smile that looked more like a grimace before throwing her two pokeballs into the air and her friends quickly made room for the new arrivals.

"Espeon, Dragonair, Psychic, part the crowd!" She said, loud enough for them to hear her.

Suddenly there was much screaming in the room as the crowds were forced apart by a blinding blue light that seemed to encircle them all, leaving a straight path through the middle.

May walked with determination to the front, her eyes flashing, flanked by her pokemon and followed by her friends towards the front. The judge's eyes widened and May could see Vivian and Lillian to the right of the three, their tears coming faster, but they seemed to now be of happiness.

May walked onto the stage, flanked by her pokemon, who she now returned to their pokeballs, the blue light leaving the room, which was now in total silence.

"Um…" May began, Drew rolled his eyes, secretly glad that she was nervous, she was cute that way. "Hi everyone, I guess you'd all like to know why I am alive."

There was a general murmur of agreement through the crowd and she said, putting her hand behind her head and laughing a little. "Well, I kinda would too!"

Everyone in the crowd fell over anime-style.

"Max, Drew, someone, wanna tell them what happened?" She continued, looking over at her hesitant friends.

"I will!" Max offered.

"Thanks Max." She said, sending him an appreciative glance.

"Well, let's just say May, and Ash, and Brock, and Misty, and heck all of our friends are pretty friendly with legendary pokemon." That got a hearty laugh out of Brock before Max continued. "One of them paid us a visit. He saved my sister's life and left. End of story."

He finished, slightly rudely before going back to the group of May's friends, she sweat-dropped before going back up to the mike and saying, "Sorry guys, you can't get rid of me that easily," Before walking casually off of the platform, as if every single day she was pronounced dead to a large group of her peers.

"Well…" Mr. Contesta began.

"Why don't we go ahead and start the partner testing?" Steven filled in for him.

"Oh, yes, that'd be marvelous!" The old man sighed before telling people the rooms they would be in.

May, Ash, Brock, Anabel, Tracey, Harley, Tyson, and some other people that May could vaguely recall went into testing room A, while Misty, Soledad, Drew, Queen Lucy (spotted by Brock of course), Richie, Morrison, Sabrina, Casey, and other people that Ash could remember, but frankly didn't care to try walked into testing room B.

This would be a long day.

-.-.-

"Do you have any news?" An irritated man asked over the small communicator.

The rough looking man looking down at it cringed slightly before straightening and saying, monotone, "They will all be participating in the Johto Extreme Contests."

"Good, good. It is your job to make sure none of them walk out of these contests, you hear me? Because if it's not them, it WILL be you."

"Yes sir," The man snarled before cutting off his connection with Giovanni as he watched a couple of morons and a Meowth try to sneak into the building, pathetic.

-.-.-

"Come on James!" The woman hissed over her shoulder as they sneaked into the room.

"I'm waiting on Meowth, he's still outside!"

"Who cares?" She hissed back.

"What are you two doing here?!" The Nurse Joy called over to them, they froze.

"We've been looking for you two. Kellie and Norris right? Well, we have one seat left in each examination room, so go and get ready to find out your partners! Welcome to the extreme league!"

The two exchanged a snigger before going to their separate rooms.

This could get nasty…

**A/N: Yes, I know I'm an evil, evil person to make you wait so long for such an utter piece of rubbish. I'll put up the next chapter (when this story starts getting GOOD) when I get 35 reviews (that's 9 for this chapter people!)**

**Again, sorry for taking so long, but I have this story stuck in my head and major writer's block for this story too, so I'm thinking if I start writing the other story, maybe this writer's block will go away somewhat, I don't know, tell me what you guys thing. (The other story is a Twilight book story, just a little FYI)**

**If anyone is a tanented drawer (which is am definately NOT) It'd be great if you could find time to draw May in her new outfit with her new hair style if you could so I can show everyone what it would look like.**


	8. We meet people for those we care about

**A/N: Welcome everyone, to my eighth installment to 'What It Takes'! YAY! )**

**I wrote a one-shot last night that you should all go look at, I'm deciding about wither or not to do a scene like that some time later in this story.**

**If there is someone who you think should be together, tell me about it (I might not mention all of the Gym Leaders, and none of the Sinnoh Gym Leaders/people except maybe Dawn, because I never watched any of those, because I am a diehard May & Drew fan, and they're not in that series cries Whatever) This is your LAST CHANCE to tell me pairings, I need one for just about every gym leader and frontier brain (except Anabel, got that one covered & I'm considering just sticking Tate and Liza together and they just won't find love cause I'm evil) I also need a pairing for Morrison and HARLEY, dun dun dun.**

**Alright, for MD answers, May's are first; For AM Ash's are first, For BM Brock's answers come first, for SH Soledad's come first. **

**Oh and guys, the reason that (even though they're all close to her) Espeon seems to love her the most is that Espeon regards may as her **_**Mother**_**, the rest regard her as perhaps their adoptive mother, or friend who happens to be their trainer, but May was the **_**first**_** thing Espeon ever saw, the only thing Espeon ever truly had, not knowing her true mother, so… hope that answers why it always wants to be around her (and the fact that she thought it was her fault May got hurt, was because she wasn't there)**

**Me: So, who's gonna do the disclaimer for me today?**

**Drew: I always do the disclaimer.**

**Me: Yes, but you always complain or are rude to me, I need someone new!**

**May: How about me, Oh! I can't wait until the end of the story when me and D-**

**Me: ALRIGHT! That's enough, May's not doing the disclaimer.**

**Ash: Cooties, cooties, you two have cooties.**

**Me: -sweatdrops- Not Ash either.**

**Brock- prettygirlsprettygirlsprettygirlsqueenlucyisaprettygirlevenprettierthanjennyandjoyputtogether!**

**Max: -Drags him by the ear-**

**Me: Alright, not them either.**

**Misty: What's going on he-**

**Anabel: Sorry to cut in, but this is taking way too long! I see with you psychic powers, that everyone agrees, Bella (shining hearts) Does NOT own pokemon. Alright, good.**

**Me: YAY!**

-.-.-

Everyone began their tests, the questions were simple, but you had to be honest, because this was a compatibility test. May really didn't want to know if that meant love-connection wise also, so she pushed it to the back of her head and began writing.

_What is your Full Name? May Selene Maple. ; Andrew (Drew) Jacob Nektao _

**What do you participate in, and what is your role? The Pokemon League; trying to be a master, I've finished the badges five times and beaten the Battle Frontier once. ; I want to be a water pokemon master, Gym leader in Cerulean City.**

What gender do you prefer, romantically speaking? GIRLS! ; uh, girls?

_**What is your Greatest accomplishment? I won the Ribbon Cup in Hoenn. ; I got second at the Grand Festival for the Shingro region.**_

The questions droned on and on, and by the end of a long hour and a half May had finished all 120 questions. She walked slowly up to the front and handed Nurse Joy her papers, the pink-haired nurse gave her a large smile before feeding the test in to some kind of machine. May sneaked a glance at the screen and saw the pictures – all boy's pictures – zooming by extremely fast. As she walked out she thought she heard a faint '_DING_!' sound but brushed it off and walked out behind the meeting hall. It was so lovely here.

For a while she strolled around in the fields, looking in to the ocean. She decided it was too much of a perfect day to let her pokemon stay cooped up in their pokeballs, so she released them all. Kingdra began splashing little Bellossom with the crystalline water, the smaller pokemon's bell-like laughter filling the field where only one or two other trainers mingled. Dragonair was laying lazily next to May, who decided he wasn't shiny enough and got out his special brish and went to work, he closed his eyes, appreciating the nice sensation on his skin. Blaziken and Beautifly were practicing routines together – always eager, May thought to herself.

Espeon lounged in a tree, sitting on a middle branch, one paw dangling about half-way in between the two practicing pokemon, the two playing pokemon, and her trainer with the last pokemon. Even with her eyes closed she managed to mess up a few appeals, make Kingdra's water backfire, and the brush slip from May's hand on more than one occasion.

"Alright, that's IT!" May said, loudly enough for all of her pokemon to hear after being successfully hosed down with water that was, of course, being moved by a certain little purple feline pokemon's psychic ability. All of her pokemon turned to look at her quizzically as she pounced on the unsuspecting cat pokemon who wasn't expecting it and they both went flying across the grassy hill, down towards the lake.

Dragonair got up and followed worriedly, Blaziken got an evil little look in his eyes before motioning to Beautifly and both of them headed over to the edge of the lake near Kingdra.

-.-.-

By this time May and her pokemon had the attention of all of the people lounging outside, even if there was only a handful of them. A giant plop was heard, along with playful pokemon noises and the sound of a chiming bell-like laugh, and for any looking they would see a lively, beautiful girl sitting with her butt and feet in the shallow water, her water and psychic pokemon sending small splashes of crystalline water into her already half-wet face, her butterfly pokemon sneaking up behind her and covering her in glittery silver powder from a silver wind, where the sparkles now stuck to her body. You might also see a few petals that her tiny Bellossom had sent at her before jumping onto her stomach and tickling it gleefully. You might have seen her unusual Dragonair try to fling some uprooted cattails at her, and overshoot, hitting a now very angry Blaziken instead and the two brawling it out, rolling on the grass near her.

You might see a girl having the time of her life, looking extremely stupid, yet fun-loving. But as we all know, either the fun must decrease or come to an end for good, because not all good things last forever.

But for now, we'll let her enjoy her fun, for now she can be her fun-loving self. For now, he would not take the light from her eyes. For now her pokemon could enjoy being with others that they truly love. For now, he would pretend that he had forgotten all of the deadly weapons hanging in his vest and on his belt. For now, he would pretend that Giovanni did not give him the job of wiping the happiness off of these faces, for now he would pretend that she was not stirring something in his heart that after that day he had promised to keep deep down.

For now, he would pretend that the gleam in her eyes and the sheen in her hair, and the large smile playing on her lips did not remind him of his deceased and beloved wife, for being a hit-man, as he knew he was, he was not allowed to have feelings, he was not allowed to be anything but numb, he was not allowed to have a heart…

He looked back at the girl, and saw her joined by another, one with ruby red hair. He sighed, today they would get to be the innocent children that they were.

And so, for now the ruby red eyes faded in to the distance, their owner mentally calculating something else to do to occupy his actions, give the girl and her friends more time, and make sure Giovanni never got suspicious. He was walking a very thin line, was he not?

-.-.-

Drew turned in his paper lazily and went to sit on a bench in the waiting room, looking out in to the open fields. He thought he saw a shady man hiding in some low brush, a man that looked dangerously familiar, not far from where May was rolling around and playing with her pokemon, but a second later the silhouette was gone, and he shook it off. He was now looking at the beautiful girl who had her pokemon all surrounding her, laughing as tiny little Bellossom tickled her stomach.

Someone suddenly wrapped their small hands around his eyes and he tensed, thinking it was another fan girl. "Guess who?" quipped an adolescent, yet soft and intelligent voice.

"Alice!" He gasped, she removed her hands, revealing a large pout to her older brother. Her light pink eyes flashed with playfulness as her long curly red tresses brushed her pale skin when the oncoming air from the sliding doors opening.

"What an awful big brother I have, not even coming to say 'hello' to his one and only sister!" She said, her lip protruding even farther.

"Well, if I had known you were here…!" He replied seriously, morphing in to over protective big brother mode.

Then he saw Ash and Max walking out of an exam room, both engrossed in a conversation with a peculiar looking girl with short lavender hair, who was giggling at something Ash had just said.

His sister sighed sadly as her gaze followed his, before she said in little over a whisper, "You are so lucky Drew, to have friends. It gets so lonely in the mansion without you, that's how I got here you know, I started making pokefood for all of mum and dad's old pokemon since… y'know." She trailed off, but then continued after shooting him a glance that looked like a puppy who was guilty of just wetting on a new carpet and was waiting for punishment. "Well, it was really fun, one of mother's old cooks went in to market one day and told everyone about it, and here I am a little under a year later with a small, yet popular breeding shop in the center of La Rousse!"

She finished with a mock happiness, and maybe if he wasn't her brother who saw how she reacted to the murder of their parents, he would not have noticed the fakeness of it all, but he saw and decided it was high-time that his sister had some friends.

"Oi!" He yelled over her shoulder, and her eyes widened. "Ash! Max! Over here!" He yelled, and the three talking looked over to him and he motioned for him to come over. Ash had a quizzical look on his face as Alice turned to look at them, which turned devious, then conspiratorial. Max had a faint pink blush across his face, and the girl just looked at him puzzled.

As soon as they had gotten over to them Ash opened his big, fat mouth. "She's a bit young, don't ya think, Drew?" He said, obviously proud of himself.

Drew rolled his eyes, seriously, couldn't he do any better than that? "You're a bit of a dope, don't ya think? She's my sister, knucklehead."

At this, Max grew less chalky, the mystery girl giggled and Ash first looked shocked, then dumbfounded, then like a puppy that had been kicked.

"Everyone, this is Alice, Alice this is Ash, ever dense" Drew began, ruffling Ash's hair, "And this is his Pikachu, the brains of the duo," Pikachu chirped his approval and Drew smirked before continuing, "This is Max," Then bending low to her ear he said, "Y'know, he's your age, and I think he likes you." She blushed at his words before he drawled on once more. "And I'm not really sure who she is, I guess I have to wait for formal introductions to find out though."

"Oh, how rude of me," The girl – almost a woman – said, "My name is Anabel, I know Ash from the Battle Frontier, I'm a-"

"You're Anabel? The Anabel? The frontier brain with the amazing Espeon? I heard the only person with one to match yours is a girl called May!" Alice interjected excitedly.

"Well, yes I am, but just to let you know since your obviously a breeder," She paused and Alice nodded, "I would say mine might be better trained, I remember that cute thing when it was just an Eevee, a baby at that… Oh well… But by a breeder's viewpoint I think you would find her's more fascinating, it is definitely… unique."

The girl's eyes widened, "You know _The_ May Maple? She is only the best coordinator ever other than my brother!"

Everyone laughed at her outburst, and looked at Drew. Max was the first to walk up to her, a little tentatively, but that did not get rid of the mischievous and humor-filled glint in his eyes. "Well, I guess Drew hasn't told you. We all know '_the_ May Maple' as you put it. Hi, my name is Max, Max Maple."

Everyone burst out laughing at the look on her face. She looked like she was going to faint. "Ah, I remember the good old days! Hey Max, remember when she hated pokemon? Ah, those times were great…" Ash said, obviously reminiscing. But the conversation turned, for what Drew thought was the worse.

"You know Drew," Max began, one of those flashing lights crossing his glasses that meant either he was in for it or he was in for a Spanish inquisition, and he thought it would be the first one from that tone. "I would have thought you of all people would have mentioned my sister to your sister, with how close the two of you are and all…"

Anabel giggled as Drew flushed, Alice merely looked at him, a small smirk playing on her face – it must be a family thing. Ash merely looked on confused then blurted out, "What does that mean?"

Everyone fell over anime-style. Drew began the conversation again, "Would you like to meet 'The May Maple' Alice?" Drew asked his sister kindly, when the others gave him odd looks, he tilted his head towards the window and glanced over out of the window towards her. He froze, and everyone besides his excitable sister noticed.

And Drew was nervous for a good reason; out of the corner of his eye, Drew could see that odd man again, still staring at May, and for some reason it made Drew uncomfortable. Then, his blood seemed to chill in his very veins. There, on the man's belt glistened the barrel of a gun.

-.-.-

"YES!" The girl squealed before bursting out of the doors, running through the fields, squeeing once more as she saw May, and began running again.

"Alice – stop!" Drew began, but he was too late. All of the others stayed back, looking at Drew concerned.

"What's wrong Drew?" Ash asked him.

"we need to go, there's a man watching May – with a gun!" He exclaimed, and everyone gasped. He turned to Anabel, "I know you and I don't know each other well or anything, but I do know you have psychic pokemon with amazing power, do you think you could have one out and ready in case he…"

Drew trailed off, swallowing hard, not wanting to say what everyone knew he meant out loud. He felt a small, comforting hand on his shoulder and he looked up, "Don't worry," Said Anabel's soft voice, "We will not let you – or her down." She said, before retrieving a pokeball and releasing an Alakazam.

-.-.-

May was just getting up and out of the water when she thought she saw a flash of red, she shook her head and gently placed Bellossom on the edge of the lake and was about to get out when she was knocked back down in to the water. Her pokemon all let out howls of laughter, May put her hand to her head and groaned, trying to look at the thing – person rather – attached to her midriff.

"I'm s-so s-sorry, m-miss M-May." They young girl stuttered. May smiled warmly at her before picking her gently up and getting them both on the shore.

May felt bad for the girl, she seemed so nervous, or scared. "It's alright, really I was already wet, thanks to someone." She huffed, looking over towards her huddled pokemon that the girl had not looked at yet. "And you can call me May, Miss makes me feel so old!" She added cheerfully.

"Oh! Alright, May, as long as you aren't mad. M-my brother said it would be okay to come down and meet you." May laughed, and the little girl thought that her laugh sounded like beautiful chimes making their graceful music in a lazy spring breeze.

"And who, pray-tell, is your brother?" She asked, her eyes warm and kind.

"Drew!" The girl said, and she noticed the way May's eyes lighted up even more at the mention of her brother's name, she put that in her mental storage for later use, along with the remark Max had said to her brother.

"Ohhh! That means you can give me dirty little secrets from your childhood, eh? Did he have a blanket, or better yet, did he NAME it? Oh how terribly rude of me, I should have asked your name too, but I bet it's Alice, unless he has two sisters." She asked.

Alice's eyes widened, "H-he talked about me?"

"All the time," She said, smiling warmly, and it was true back years ago he had always talked about his little sister, and she had been one of his main concerns (other than May, but she didn't know that) since they had reunited. "He really loves you, you know."

At that moment Bellossom came over and began tickling little Alice's stomach. The girl squirmed and laughed in delight, trying to get out of the small creature's grasp.

"Bellossom, Bell Bell!" _(I like her already!)_

'Me too Bellossom, me too…' May thought to herself.

"Can all contestants please report to the Main Hall for the results of the partner testing please?" Nurse joy's voice boomed over the intercom.

May returned all of her pokemon and took the hand of the small girl next to her as they practically skipped back to the building.

-.-.-

"C'mon" Drew growled to the people behind him, his Roselia and Absol closely on his heels, Anabel with her Alakazam, Max with his Starmie, and Ash with his Pikachu.

All of our eyes followed the man as he subtly melted in to the shadows of the forest.

They followed stealthily, and the man seemed to be in his own world. Drew pointed to Anabel who must've been mentally communicating with Alakazam because it got in to a ready position and the four humans looked in to the open clearing where the man had stopped.

"Hey you!" Drew and Max snarled at the same time as the four came out of the brush. He whipped around and fast like lightning his hand was at his belt. "Anabel, now!" Drew said, and at that moment Alakazam came out of the brush with a blue glow and the bullet which was only a few feet from Drew's face went right back in to the gun which made a loud noise and if the man had not thrown it in the other direction would have exploded on his face.

Drew noticed Anabel looking questioningly at him and he nodded once, soon all of his guns were off of his person, along with many poisons and a communicator. Drew thought he might be sick. This man was a hunter, an assassinator, a hit man, a _killer_.

"You will not hurt May." Drew and Ash said in unison.

"I will not let you put a single finger on my sister." Max snarled.

The man burst out laughing, but his eyes held inner conflict and great sadness, that if Drew had not been practiced in looking for, he would not have caught it. "I highly doubt you'd be able to stop me." He said coldly.

"I would die before I let you touch her." Drew snarled.

"Is that a promise, because it is most certainly not a threat." He said before taking out a strange black pokeball with red where the white should have been.

He grinned maliciously at them all before throwing the ball in to the air.

-.-.-

**A/N: Sorry guys! I know it's short, please don't kill me or anything!**

**Next chapter is gonna be GOOD, I swear:D Do you all like Alice, she is SO cute (in my opinion) Ohhh, do I smell Max with a love connection? If so I might just call it… siblingshipping… what do you guys think? Max with someone else's younger sister and TADA! Siblingshipping!**

**Anywho… I have final exams for my pre-highschool PE/Health classes (so I have a free seventh period) tomorrow, so I might not update until around… Monday, kay?**

**Oh, and I had this story plot stuck in my head (two actually) and they're both Sailor Moon (Seiya x Usagi), so if you like that topic and pairing, I invite you all to read it!**

**-Shining Hearts**

**P.S.- review! But don't call me evil for the cliffy. There wasn't one last chapter, so it is pretty long voerdue, and I got really lazy on the questions, I had a paper with like 25 answered for you guys, but I lost it and I am lazy AND forgetful, so you guys only get four.**


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